Inches Away From All The Truths
by snowsa
Summary: We've all been told that secrets can kill, literally and figuratively. But Seth has never imagined the true meaning of that statement. When Embry's cousin comes to town,Seth immediately knows she's his perfect match. But why won't Embry let Seth near her?
1. No Introductions

**A/N: Yes, this is a Seth/OC story. And yes, it will probably be as weird as my other one, but hopefully it will still be good and hopefully some people will actually REVIEW!**

**And yes, this story is T. And it's for language. They're teenagers. What do you expect?  
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**I think that's my shortest AN ever.**

**Songs:**

**Airplanes- B.O.B. ft. Hayley Williams**

**Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)- Train**

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**Hayley POV (ha, ironic, her first name is the same as the lead singer of Paramore. Didn't realize that until now.)**

"Hales!!"

A body jolted into me and I staggered backwards as tight arms wrapped around me, practically strangling me.

"Embry! I need...air!!" I managed to get out.

He chuckled as he pulled back to look at me, keeping his hands on my shoulders. "Wow, Hales. You haven't grown at _all_, have you?"

I laughed and slapped his arm, though I doubt it did much. "But you have." I noted, looking him over. "Do they put some experimental growth hormones in the food here or what?"

Embry grinned. "Why, you want some? I doubt they'd make a difference."

I rolled my eyes as I walked into his house, dragging my suitcase behind me as Embry picked up the rest of my things.

Obviously I didn't really remember the house, I hadn't been here since I was four years old. But something about the cozyness of it seemed familiar, and even though Embry's mom didn't even live here anymore, it still had her presence.

"Alright, dear distant cousin, let's get all your crap into your new room." I raised an eyebrow and he glared at me, (he'd always been angry that I could do that, he'd never learned how) and then he said, "Although compared to the amount most girls would bring, this probably equals a backpack." Then he decided to look in the small cage.

"What the hell?"

At least he didn't sound angry. "Yeah, um...I kind of forgot to mention that I have a cat?"

He stared at me blankly. "You...forgot."

"Yeah?"

After a few more seconds of blank silence, he shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just make sure it doesn't tear my throat off in my sleep."

I grinned as we dragged everything to my room; I could still vaguely smell paint, and Embry had told me that he and his friends had repainted it a pretty blue just for me.

It really was a beautiful color, and the comforter on the double bed was a mint green. (Props to Embry, green was my favorite color!) There was a shiny mahogany desk in one corner and a TV across from the bed with a door leading to the bathroom. It was extremely plain, but Embry must have known that I would want to decorate it myself as he had left most spaces open.

I took out my dark purple laptop and placed it on the desk as Embry said, "I can take you to Port Angeles sometime this weekend so you can buy some new stuff."

I turned around and smiled at him. "Because you would never let me drive there, right?"

He smiled faintly, but then turned more serious. I dreaded what he was about to say, because I knew exactly what it was going to be. "How have you been, Hayley?"

I smiled and said, "Fine. But have I ever told you how much I hate planes? They're so creepy and if you end up falling, you're totally screwed and if there are terrorists, then you're still screwed." Yes, I babble to avoid emotional situations.

"Hayley. I'm serious."

I sighed and looked away, not wanting to meet his eyes. "I told you, I'm fine. I'm used to it by now."

Embry walked over and enveloped me into a hug.

I guess I forgot to mention that I use babbling to avoid pity, too. Because that's exactly what this was. Oh, everyone on the rez knew who Hayley Anderson was. She was the poor adorable little orphan girl that had stopped visiting when she was four because her parents had died in that horrible car accident. She was the one who had been bounced around the family, having to move every few years because the aunt got sick or the uncle died. Just recently, I'd been living with my grandmother.

She was a kind, loving woman who knew when she had to be stern and when she just had to listen. But when I'd come home one day to see all the flashing lights, the only thing I could comprehend was when the paramedic told me that our neighbor had come over and found her at the bottom of the stairs. They told me that she'd had a stroke.

Earlier that morning, she'd been just fine, laughing about how stupid my best friend, Kyle, was. She'd told me that I should tell him to read up on , because he never understood any of the words my grandmother and I used.

Later that night, she died at the hospital.

So here I was, with my dead father's brother's ex-wife's son. When I'd first met Embry and his mom, his mother had been my uncle's wife, therefore making Embry my cousin. So even though my uncle had divorced Embry's mother before he'd moved to Hong Kong, (no joke. He'd moved there when I was ten for a promotion. After that I'd had to go to live with his twenty-eight year old son.) Embry and I still thought of each other as cousins.

La Push had been my last option when Grandma had died. I was completely out of family except for a few that either wouldn't/couldn't take me in, or they lived on a different continent. Embry and I really weren't even related at all, but he said that he'd have no problem taking me in and that we wouldn't even be crowded because his mother had moved to Seattle a few months ago for a job. (Isn't that everyone's reason?)

So here I was, in the sunless place of America, living with my eighteen year old kinda sorta cousin who looked like he was on steroids.

"Hayley, I know this must be hard for you. You loved her more than anyone else."

I smiled sadly as I looked up at him and untangled myself from his arms. "Yeah. But it's fine. She was old and she was always joking about how she was wondering when she was gonna kick the bucket because she'd lived her life and now all she was doing was taking care of some moody seventeen year old." I opened up my cat's cage and Echo slipped out, immediately hopping up onto the bed.

Embry grinned at me, flashing those scarily white teeth. "Well, from our phone conversations, it seems like you _can_ be pretty moody."

I rolled my eyes as I sat down on the bed.

"So listen, I have to go do some stuff today, but you should get some sleep. We're going to one of our annual bonfires tonight, and they can go pretty late. I don't want to have to carry you home tonight. Not that it would be that hard."

I rolled my eyes and him again and responded, "You could carry a _tree_ home if you wanted to."

"Why would I want to carry a tree home? You're the eco-maniac, not me."

"I never said you'd actually want to, just that you could. You know, because you're all hyped up on steroids." He gave me a look. "Fine. Experimental growth hormones, then. Does that sound better?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, this is all natural. And no, you're never going to get a magical growth spurt like I did."

I quirked an eyebrow, just for the fun of it, and said, "Hey, I'm fine with a normal growth spurt. A scary magical one would just go against everything I've ever been taught. A magical one would just go against nature, because nature does things nature's way-"

"So you blame nature for your shortness?" He interrupted.

"...Haven't you ever heard of being vertically challenged?" I responded weakly.

He chuckled. "Yes, and I've also heard you state that that's a load of shit."

I stared at him for a moment and finally said, "You know, when you laugh like that, you remind me of a rabid squirrel."

He gave me a blank look, and then he said, "I've missed you, Hayley."

I smiled and looked away. "Doesn't everyone?"

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**Seth POV**

_Would you just phase back already?!? I don't want to know what you and Elyse did last night, alright?!_ I mentally shouted at Brady. I'd spent the last hour trying to block everything coming from his mind. I mean, I know the whole imprinting thing is heavy duty and all, but at least Paul and Sam were able to keep their thoughts to themselves!

Brady finally phased back to human form, leaving me in peace. We'd only been doing patrols in twos lately, and only every few days, because nothing too suspicious had been happening lately. Well, except for the fact that Embry, Colin, and I were the only ones left in the pack that hadn't imprinted. And Leah, too, but she didn't really count.

I didn't really care that much, it's just that when you have to shared thoughts with these guys, it gets incredibly annoying.

_Yeah, we love you too, Seth._

_Glad to know you think so nicely of us when we're not around._

I started as I realized that Paul and Quil had joined me.

_Um...Well...You know...I just don't need to know that much about your lives. At least you and Sam can control your thoughts, Paul, and the rest of you don't really have thoughts like that yet. But Brady...It's not important. I'm just gonna go to Embry's._

_Hey, don't forget, I think his cousin or whatever is supposed to be coming today. The one we were forced to endure paint fumes for._ Paul's mental voice interrupted me just as I was about to phase.

I grinned my wolfish grin._ Yeah, and from what Embry told me, she's barely the size of Nessie. _

_Yeah, but apparently she's got a temper to match what Paul's used to be._

I gave a mental snort._ Right. We'll see about that. _And with that I phased back and put my shorts on and started jogging through the woods towards Embry's.

I felt right at home in the woods, and sometimes I felt bad about that, like I was some kind of animal. But, the truth is, I am, and I also feel right at home in Emily's kitchen, so it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. And listening to all the animals made me feel more calm, even though I could see the sky darkening overhead.

Rain. 'Cause that's just _such_ a new thing.

I find it funny how much it rains in this place. I don't really mind much, it doesn't make that big of a difference, and you get used to it eventually. But anyone who comes to live here, if they used to love rain, they never will again. La Push and Forks just did that to people.

I finally broke through the trees and saw Embry's house. I just opened the door and strolled right in, we all did that to each other. I found him in his room, which didn't even have a door, just a huge archway that led to the kitchen. He was looking through some boxes in his closet.

I saw a mass of pretty red hair on the bed, covering what could only be a girl.

"There's a girl in your bed."

Embry finally looked up at me. "Yeah." He said slowly.

"Why is there a girl in your bed?" I asked dumbly.

Embry rolled his eyes. "It's not like _that_, you idiot. That's Hayley." He looked over at her for a second and added, "And I think you just woke her up."

I looked over as she groaned, mumbled, "Yeah, you did." And then brought a hand out from under the covers to flip is off.

Embry chuckled and I raised my eyebrows. "And she doesn't have her own bed?" I questioned, sounding a little snobbish.

I had a strange feeling she was rolling her eyes. "Why, jealous?"

I laughed a little and so did Embry. "Sorry, no."

"To answer your question, Seth, yes, she does have a bed. But the room still reeks of paint fumes and I don't need Hayley getting addicted to inhalants. She's crazy enough and got enough issues as it is."

A pillow soared through the room and neatly made contact with Embry's face. I looked over at Hayley to see her sitting up and smiling innocently at Embry.

She was obviously a very pretty girl but in a more subtle way, with long, straight dark red hair and full lips. When she finally turned to me, I saw that her eyes were a bright green.

And that was all I saw. Her. Her eyes, her hair, he dainty little wrists. I felt like gravity had shifted so that she was the center of it all.

And Embry saw this too. He looked between us and muttered, "Fuck." Then he raised his voice a little. "Seth, come with me." He then grabbed my arm and proceeded to drag me out the room and out the front door while I stared at Hayley like...well, probably like an idiot.

He took me to the edge of the woods and stopped. He looked down at me, his eyes flashing. "Did you just imprint on my cousin?" He asked tightly.

"Um...Yes?"

He started shaking and muttered to himself, "No, no, no, this is _not_ happening."

"What's wrong?" I asked when he finally managed to calm down a little.

"Hayley is not someone you imprint on, okay? She's just not. And I know how strong that stuff is, but you are not going to do anything about it." He looked at me, his eyes burning, as he said this. "She's never going to find out anything about any of this, and you are going to stay away from her. Got it?"

I couldn't even imagine doing that. "But Embry-"

"No, Seth." He cut me off, his tone urgent. "You don't understand. Hayley...She can't know about any of this. And she's not someone that falls in love. You _have_ to stay away from her, I'm begging you."

The urgency and fear in his tone scared me. Was there something seriously wrong with her? I knew that Embry wasn't jealous or anything, because I'd been in his head before, and he'd never said anything about her having some traumatic disease or something. And that's not exactly something you could forget.

Embry was still staring at me, waiting for me to answer. His eyes were still flashing dangerously. "Okay..." I said uncertainly.

"Good." He sounded brisk now, and I think that scared me even more. "We'll see you at the bonfire tonight. And you'll leave Hayley alone."

"Okay..." And then he walked away.

Had I really just agreed to stay away from my imprint?"

**Okay, so I didn't really want to have it happen that fast, but that's just the way it happened. Not sure how much Seth/Hayley stuff will be in the next few chapters. If you want more chapters, that is. So review and tell me! Because I'm not going to keep writing if no one's reading.**

**And there will soon be a picture on my profile of how I picture Hayley. In the meantime, you can still go on my profile and vote in my poll. Please? It's important.  
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**~Tee hee~  
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	2. Bonfire Number One

**A/N: Thank you to all the people who favorited and alerted! And special thanks to the reviewers. (See? They get _special_ thanks. *Sticks tongue out*) Even more special thanks to Sagaobsessed, who was my first reviewer. Actually, my only reviewer. So...Yeah.  
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**And yes, I know that the first chapter probably wasn't very interesting. I'm getting there! Just to clarify things, Seth and Hayley are seventeen while Embry, Quil, and Jake are eighteen and Jared and Paul are nineteen. Colin and Brady are sixteen. Yes, the ages are messed up. But it's my story and it works that way even though I don't own very much except Hayley. And the cat. I SO own Echo. Paws off my kitty!  
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**Songs:**

**Pressure- Paramore**

**Shark In The Water- V.V. Brown  
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**Hayley POV**

"What bit you and gave you rabies?" I asked Embry as he came back inside. (Yes, I use that phrase instead of saying 'what crawled up your ass and died', because that just disgusts me.)

He looked very angry, and he was shaking a little bit. ...Huh? But his eyes were flashing with some intense emotion, and it was kind of freaky.

He glanced at me and tried to smile reassuringly. Guess what? It didn't work. "It's just Seth being his usual immature self. He's one of those guys that's just looking for a new conquest every time he sees a girl."

Funny. When I'd seen Seth, he hadn't looked like that type of guy at all. I mean, of course he was gorgeous, (Those abs? Swoon.) but he seemed kind of sweet and innocent.

Then again, I hadn't always been the best judge of character. The scars on my abdomen proved that.

But Embry was completely avoiding looking at me, and I remembered that he'd never been the type of person that could look you in the eye and lie, especially to me.

"Embry," I said sweetly as I stood up and sat on the kitchen table in front of me. "Do you want to tell me the truth?"

"I just did." He mumbled, staring at the ground.

What kind of answer is that? Staring at the ground was a telltale sign of lying, everyone knew that one. "Why don't you look me in the eyes and say that again, Embry?"

He sighed and looked up, saying, "I just told you the truth."

Oh, good job, Embry! It was almost believable. But I was good at telling when people were lying, and his pupils had been dilated when he'd said that.

But hey, I didn't need to tell _him_ that.

So I just said, "Okay." And then he smiled weakly and walked into his room, clearly not wanting any company.

I decided that going for a run before that stupid bonfire thing would be a good idea, running is something that always clears my head. I also wanted to see what some of this place was like, because Embry's house was the only one around, sitting in a large, cleared area with the forest all around it. And, of course, the rain was always falling. Sometimes I wondered where those stupid clouds got all their rain from and why they never seemed to run out.

I took my ipod and changed into some shorts, even though I knew I'd probably freeze, and shouted to Embry that I was going for a run. After slipping on some tennis shoes, I shot out the door, onto the trail, and started running as fast as I possibly could.

Which is pretty fast, if I do say so myself. No one has ever beat me in a race, and I could keep going for hours at this pace without getting tired.

My friends from Connecticut had told me countless times that it was unnatural, how fast I could run and how I never had to stop. I'd just told them that I'd been able to do it since I was five, and five year olds could hardly be considered unnatural, just adorable. Their response was to say that that comment wasn't really fair, considering I was definitely unnatural even though I was still the height of a five year old.

Which no, I am not. Yes, I may only be 5'1, but if a five year old was that tall, I would assume she had giantism.

Although the whole short thing was kind of annoying, after so long you get used to it. By now, the only issue I had was that I would probably end up with some kind of fatal spine issues or something from having to look up all the time.

I turned the volume on my ipod up as I started to listen to "Misery Business" by Paramore. Sometimes I felt a little weird listening to it, because it was a kind of old song and just reminded me of crazy teen fangirls, but I liked the song and it shut out the noise from all those stupid rabid squirrels.

My feet pounded on the trails, and little droplets of rain that slipped past the treetops plopped onto my face, but I barely noticed. Running was my way of getting away, my way of avoiding things or trying to clear my head.

And right now I was trying to get everything suspicious that had already happened here out of my head.

Because I'm just a naturally a suspicious person, it was kind of hard. That Seth guy had had a creepy stare, Embry had immediately taken him out of the house and come back angry, and then he'd lied about it. And what was up with the whole steroids thing? I mean, I know Embry's not on them, but him and Seth were pretty...muscular.

And then there were the rumors about the killer wolves. Embry doesn't know that I knew those rumors, but it's hard not to. Everyone in all the states had been talking about how the two little towns of La Push and Forks had been under attacks by wolves, how people were disappearing and there were always wolf prints.

When I was little, I'd always loved doing puzzles. And when I got a little older, like fifth and sixth grade, I'd liked to do those logic puzzles. I could always do them faster than most people, as soon as I figured out the pattern.

But there was no pattern here. The only thing I knew was that they were all connected.

At least it was a start.

I didn't want to dwell on this until I had a little more information, so I changed the song to "You Look Better When I'm Drunk" by The White Tie Affair, and kept running.

Because it seemed like running was the only thing I had left.

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"So. We're going to a bonfire at the beach where there are going to be a bunch of people, even some from Forks, and you're just going because of the food?"

Embry smiled at me as we walked side-by-side down the trail. "Yup. They've always got lots of food. And you'd be surprised at how much the guys and I eat."

"No, I don't think I would." I muttered to myself. I hadn't seen any of Embry's other friends besides Seth, but I assumed that they were all as big as Embry. "But exactly why am I coming to this?"

"Because you need to meet people. Normal people. I mean, you're probably going to have to see my friends pretty often, but I think you need to meet some people with actual functioning brains."

"Aw, come on, I'm sure your friends have some working brains."

He gave me a look. "No, they really don't. I would know."

Okay then...

After ten minutes of walking, (well, me having to jog to keep up with Embry's stride) we broke through the woods and came up to the beach. It was about eight o'clock, so there were already plenty of people there, although I could easily spot what were most likely Embry's friends; They stood about a foot above everyone else.

"Embry!" I heard someone screech. He grimaced as a blond girl rushed over and hugged him. "I've been waiting for you." Then she glanced at me, having to do a double-take because she most likely assumed I was his little sister or something the first time. "Who's this?" She sneered.

This was the classic cliche teenage bitch girl, and this was the classic cliche teenage _jealous_ bitch girl scene.

"This is Hayley. She just moved here, she's going to be a senior with the rest of us this year." And then he grabbed my hand and dragged me away, mumbling something about stalkers.

"Maybe you should get a restraining order." I mused.

He sounded completely serious when he said, "Believe me, I'm planning on it." When we were far enough away, he looked at me and said, "Go mingle. I have someone I have to talk to."

And then he started weaving through the crowd. "Gee, thanks Embry, leave me all alone during a party filled with strangers. Oh, I'm not going to get raped or anything, don't worry about me..." I shouted after him. He just waved without turning around.

I decided that I didn't want to look like a complete idiot, so I went to the cooler to get a Mountain Dew. As I straightened up, I heard a voice behind me say, "Yay! New girl!"

I turned around to see a girl not much taller than me and an average height guy standing next to her. He was giving off that kind of air that says 'you can look but don't touch,' but he was obviously not one of those overconfident guys. He had pure black hair, and he was tan, although he didn't look Quileute, and he was light blue eyes.

My attention was brought back to the girl as she started bouncing up and down. "Yes! Fresh meat to play with!"

The guy rolled his eyes. "Please excuse my sister. She doesn't like many of the people here, so she gets very...excited when new people come."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'll say."

I finally got a good look at the girl as she stepped a little closer. Her hair was dark brown and she was paler than most people here, and she had very light brown eyes.

"I love your outfit." She said it in a way that sounded almost surprised.

I looked down at what I was wearing, a simple dark purple shirt with quarter-length sleeves, black skinny jeans, and gray flip-flops. "Um..Thanks."

The guy laughed and said, "Please excuse her. She never seems to have manners. I'm Aidan Farsgrove, and this is my sister Lilly."

I smiled and said, "I'm Hayley Anderson." We shook hands, and it was very difficult for me to let go. His hands were somehow both rough and soft at the same time.

"So why'd you decide to move to this hell-hole?" Lilly asked me as we all sat down on an empty piece of driftwood near the fire.

I sighed. "It wasn't really my decision. This place was kind of my last option. I had to move in with my kinda sorta cousin, Embry Call."

Lilly's eyes widened and Aidan raised an eyebrow. (Hey! He can do it too!) "Embry Call? Of the La Push Gang?" He asked.

I laughed. "Embry? In a gang? Hell no. Trust me, I know him. He's practically harmless."

"Yeah, well, him and all those massively hot guys over there?" Lilly pointed and I followed her finger, seeing Embry among many guys, all as big and muscly as him. And yes, they were pretty hot. But what can I say? I may not be run by my hormones, but I'm still a teenage girl. "They've all kind of got this gang. It started out as just Sam, Paul, and Jared, but then suddenly they all joined. And have you _seen_ them? You don't get that huge in a few weeks without help."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, whatever you say. Can we just talk about something else?"

Aidan smiled, and I noticed how nice he looked when he did. It completely lit up his face and made him look even cuter.

Oh, God. I felt like a boy-crazy teenage girl. And I have never been that before.

I'm gonna chalk it up to the air. Yeah, that's it. The air here must be doing weird stuff to me.

"Okay, how about we talk about the fact that you've got a creep watching you right now?" I followed his gaze to see that Seth was watching me. I think Embry noticed this at the same time, too, because he smacked the back of Seth's head and forced him to look away.

"What was that?" Lilly asked.

I sighed. Such a typical question. "I don't know. Embry can be a little overprotective, has been since we were little, and he told me that Seth is a total player who's just looking for a new conquest."

Lilly looked thoughtful. "What do you know about him?"

I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of the Mountain Dew. "I met him for, like, five seconds. I just got here today, remember?"

Aidan joined in. "I've never heard of anything like that, but I don't really pay attention to gossip that much. And knowing that group, I wouldn't be surprised if it was true."

Lilly moaned. "But he's so...pretty. And with his looks, I wouldn't mind being his next conquest. You should go and talk to him."

I gave her a _you're insane_ look. "He's a creepy stalker that won't stop staring at me. And besides, Embry would bite my head off if I talked to him." Lilly gave me a look, and I laughed. "Yes, I'm afraid of the big bad wolf, okay? I mean, have you seen the size of Embry? Not that I think he'd actually hurt me, but he could lock me in a cellar somewhere pretty easily."

Aidan rolled his eyes. "That's what teeth are for." He teased.

Teeth. Oh God...The fangs. Blood everywhere, and me not being able to do anything as I was being held down...Ripping me open...More blood and shrieking...

I started to visibly shake as the memories ran through my head, and I faintly heard Aidan saying something.

"I'm fine." I managed to gasp out. "I just need to go get some air." The air I was so conveniently earlier saying was making me go insane. Ha ha.

I got up and stumbled through the crowd towards the wood, feeling like I was about to throw up. I ran deeper into the woods, hunched over, until I couldn't hear the party anymore. I found a tree and sat down, leaning against it, bringing my knees up close to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

I shut my eyes tight, hoping to block the images filling my head, the unnatural eyes, the flashing white teeth...

By this time I was almost in full panic attack mode as I kept trying to block out the images. I was gasping and starting to feel dizzy, and I was struggling to calm down.

I don't know why it popped into my head, but I was suddenly picturing a huge sandy brown wolf sitting calmly in front of me. For ten minutes, I pictured that wolf, until my breathing finally started to slow down.

I thought that I'd been done with this. For the first few months after the attack, I'd barely been able to see someone smile without freaking out. But gradually I'd been able to handle things, and it eventually faded to the back of my mind, never gone, but never really surfacing.

Maybe it was the fact that I was in an entirely new place, but just the word 'teeth' shouldn'y have triggered something like that.

I heard a twig break and my head snapped in that direction, seeing a hulking figure.

After that whole panic attack thing, I probably should have screamed, but I didn't.

And it's a good thing I didn't, because Seth suddenly came into view.

"Hayley? What's wrong?"

He sounded genuinely concerned, and I gave him a sad smile. "It's fine, now. It's not important." I could hardly say it was nothing, because I knew it was obvious that something was wrong.

He moved closer and dropped down to my level, looking me in the eye. "Yes, it is important. What happened, Hayley?"

I sighed and looked away, knowing that if I stared into his eyes much longer I'd blurt out the truth.

And that would get me sent to a nice white rubber room with a straitjacket.

"Nothing. I just...I just got a little freaked out about being in a new place is all."

He narrowed his eyes at me, like he knew I was lying, but he let it go and sat down next to me. "Are you okay now?"

I smiled weakly at him and leaned my head back on the tree. "Yeah. I'm fine now." I paused for a moment, wondering whether or not I should ask him but knowing I would go insane if I didn't. "So, is what Embry said about you true?'

He laughed a little and said, "What, the whole 'conquest' thing?" He looked at me and I nodded, and he laughed again. "Hell no. Not even close. If you ask any one of the guys, they'll tell you the truth. Except Embry."

"Why?" I questioned.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well...I can't exactly tell you. He'd kill me if I did." I laughed and he looked at me, his eyes widening in shock. "Okay, so you want me dead? That hurts."

I giggled and said, "No! It's just that you actually kind of told me the truth instead of making up some stupid excuse. Thank you!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

We were silent for a few minutes, until I finally said, "I hate to say it, but we should probably go before Embry finds us."

He sighed. "Yeah..." He stood out and he put out a hand to help me up. I had to hold in a gasp when my hand touched his; It felt like he had a major fever.

We went in different directions, and when I finally broke out of the woods and back into the party, Aidan and Lilly immediately saw me and hounded me with questions on whether or not I was okay. I insisted that I was fine, and they eventually dropped the subject.

So now we sat near the fire again, just the three of us, as Lilly excitedly told me about what kind of people were at the school, (she especially liked to talk about Evelyn Martina, the 'school bitch') while Aidan sat and rolled his eyes, throwing in a comment every once in a while.

I could feel a gaze on me, and I turned to see Seth still staring at me. The intensity was almost too much, so I turned back and shivered.

Aidan glanced at me. "Cold?"

I smiled weakly. "A little." Which was kind of ridiculous, because we were sitting as close to the fire as possible without roasting, but I really actually was kind of cold.

Aidan gave me a smile and moved closer to me, putting and arm around my shoulder. He wasn't as warm as Seth or Embry, but I was colder than I'd first thought.

"Better?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "Thanks."

I could feel Seth's gaze on me again, and I could also see Lilly smirking slightly as she continued her running commentary on the people and teachers at the school I would be attending tomorrow.

I wasn't really paying attention, I was more thinking about how when Seth had asked what was wrong, I'd actually _wanted_ to tell him. I'd never wanted to tell anyone, because I knew they wouldn't believe me, and because even if they did, then I'd just be the poor little freak. But with Seth, I knew it wouldn't be like that.

Which is pretty stupid, because I barely knew him, and Embry had told me he was just after sex. Even though he'd told me it wasn't true, who was I supposed to trust, Embry or Seth? And like I said, I barely knew Seth.

So basically, that meant I had chosen to believe Embry. And it wouldn't surprise me if Seth...slept around, or whatever you call it, considering the looks I'd seen some of the girls here sending him.

So yeah. I was going to believe Embry.

Except I really didn't.

**So I finally figured out why Embry's making Seth leave Hayley alone, although I don't think anyone is going to find out for a pretty long time. So anyone who reviews gets a hint. Not something that will give it all away, but it's a pretty big hint. A VERY big hint. So review! And if you're going to review, you might as well vote on my poll, too...**

**And I have a link to how I picture Hayley on my profile, and her outfit from this chapter also.  
**


	3. Irish Voices and Insanity

**A/N: I'm happy. People actually reviewed. =) So thank you! And if I didn't respond, I'm sorry, me e-mail was being uncooperative this morning. But you have no idea how much they mean to me! ;)  
**

**Disclaimer: Me. Don't. Own. **

**Songs:**

**Speed Of Sound- Coldplay**

**Get Higher- Paper Tongues**

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* * *

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**Seth POV**

Torture.

That's the only way I can describe it.

You know how torture gets information out of people, because they can't stand it anymore? Well that was happening to me.

I was stuck with Dr. Cullen right now while he rebroke my ankle, (The one that Embry had broken less than three hours ago because he'd found out what had happened in the woods with Hayley) and Emmett was there. The pain in my ankle was bad enough, but the torture Embry was putting me through was even worse. And so here I was, blurting out horrible things that I'd never intended anyone to ever hear.

And the emotion-warping vamp _wasn't_ here. Which made me that much more pathetic.

"And you know, when I was eight, my friends wanted to know what the hell a thong looked like so we went digging in Leah's drawers and she never found out..."

"I still wet the bed when I was nine...."

"When I was fourteen, my friend Carlos thought it would be fun to...ahem...experiment."

And on it went.

When it was finally over, I realized what I'd said, and I'd ran out of the Cullen's house feeling completely mortified.

But there's something worse.

You know how torture can make you break, how some people can go completely and utterly insane after they've been tortured? Like, post traumatic stress or whatever? I think that was happening to me.

I mean, I know that there are some people who hear a voice in their head, and that's not always something you have to worry about. But what happens when you have _multiple_ voices?

And...What happens when they're Irish?

I'm not even kidding, there were three voices in my head, one of which was my own and the other two literally had Irish accents. I'm hoping that I might have just accidentally conjured them up on my own because I was trying to deal with the whole imprint thing.

Then again, I might just be insane. They were always whispering things like, _You could kidnap her in the night, while Embry's out patrolling, _while the other screamed, _She's yours! She's yours! Go take Hayley and tell her how you morph into a giant ball of fur!_

I blame you, Embry. You made me here Irish voices in my head.

* * *

**Hayley POV**

There's something wrong with this town. Ever since the attack, for some reason, I can usually tell when something's horribly wrong. And on this reservation, there's something wrong. Something not normal.

I didn't have any evidence or anything, except for those old wolf attacks, but they'd stopped over a year ago. I knew Embry knew something about it, but I also knew that if I asked him he would just tell me to drop it.

Embry's always been weird that way, especially since the attack. He's the only one that knows the truth, and ever since then, even though he's lived in a completely different state, he's always tried to protect me from things like that.

Generally, I guess you could say that I'm pretty good at figuring things out. I guess I've had to do it a lot, but I never had such a bad feeling about something. And by now, I've learned to trust this feeling.

I wasn't really sure how in the world I was supposed to find anything out, though. I barely knew anyone in this town...

Except for Aidan and Lilly.

So I called Lilly and told her to meet me at the beach and bring her brother.

She'd giggled and said, "Well that shouldn't be too hard. He hasn't stopped talking about you since we got home last night."

So now here I was, sitting on a piece of driftwood near the ashes of yesterday's bonfire. Aidan sat next to me while Lilly sat on the ground (sand, whatever) across from us.

"So, guys...What kind of weirdly insane stuff happens around here?" I asked. I knew this wouldn't be suspicious, as Lilly had already dubbed me insane.

Aidan snorted while Lilly grinned and said, "You'd be surprised. There are some pretty creepy people around. And every once in a while, someone will randomly go missing..."

I stiffened, though no one noticed, and Lilly continued. "And then, everyone's always talking about the Cullens. They're a kind of creepy family, with like, a thirty year old doctor and his wife and six teenagers. I think they're all nineteen now, but they didn't used to be, and it's kind of disgusting because they're all...paired up or whatever."

Aidan laughed. "Yeah, a lot of people say that. But they're not actually related."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She turned back to me. "They never really talk to anyone else, and when they were still in high school it was kind of weird because they're all really pale and good-looking. And then I noticed something...They never eat." She looked away for a second, seeming to consider whether or not to tell me something, and then said, "I don't really know why none of them went to college, they're extremely rich. Like, the richest people here. No one moves to La Push or Forks if you have that much money."

I sighed, trying to work it out in my head. I wasn't entirely sure what this meant, but it scared me a little that Lilly was so observant. "What about those wolf attacks last year?"

Lilly's eyes brightened, which if you ask me was pretty weird. "I don't even know if they were really wolf attacks. But people just started disappearing, like, every week, and they would always find a little blood and these huge wolf prints. At first everyone thought they were bears, because they were so huge, but a couple people actually saw one of them and said it was just this huge wolf."

I trembled a little.

Lilly, you're too perceptive for your own good. No, they weren't just wolf attacks. I don't know what they were, but they weren't just huge wolves. That's for sure.

I looked out to to the ocean, noticing for the first time how violent the waves were today as they crashed against the cliffs.

Think, Hayley, think. Pale people who don't eat and have an unnatural amount of money. Wolf attacks that aren't really done by real wolves. Secretive gangs that your cousin seems to be a part of.

I groaned in frustration, but put on a calm face. I would have hours to figure this out later, and maybe even possibly throw in a subtle comment to Embry.

"So...What do you guys do for fun around here?"

Oh, that _definitely_ set Lilly off.

* * *

Ask me why I like the rain, and I'll say I don't know. But the truth is, I really do know why.

When I was twelve, and living in Colorado, I was home alone one night. This was when my twin brother and I were still talking to each other, so I really technically wasn't alone, because he was there. This was one of our last happy nights together, before it all went to Hell.

I've always loved watching scary movies, so I wanted to watch all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies with him. It was eleven o'clock at night, and my brother was scared shitless, so I came up behind him and whispered "Boo" in his ear. He screamed so loud that the windows literally shook, and when he was done being mad at me, we both started rolling around on the ground laughing.

And then it started raining. Storming, too. We were both a little freaked out, so my brother spent the whole night telling me all those fairytales that little girls love so much.

Like I said, it was one of our last happy nights together. So every time it rained, it reminded me of that night.

Not that I'd ever tell anyone that sappy story. I'd probably just say it sounded cool.

Anyways, on to a different topic.

Thank God for fireplaces. Or more like thank Embry's mom for putting a fireplace in this house, and thank Embry for building a fire in it.

Of course, I'd wanted to do that myself, but he hadn't let me. Then again, the last time I'd tried building a fire I'd ended up setting the whole living room on fire.

But hey, what ever happened to second chances?

Embry and I were sitting on the couch, Echo in my lap, watching TV while the fire grew and the storm raged. It was such a typical scene that it almost made me laugh, but whenever I start laughing at nothing Embry thinks about taking me to see a therapist.

We were watching reruns of "Lost", since we were both completely and utterly obsessed with that show. (And because he'd refused to watch "Vampire Diaries" with me.)

"So, Embry, what's up with this place?" I asked, looking down at Echo as she played with a loose string on my sweatshirt.

He glanced over at me. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. This place is just weird. I mean, people go missing, dead animals are always turning up in the woods, and there are these weird wolf attacks." I said it all so nonchalantly that even a trained detective probably wouldn't be able to tell how much I wanted this information right now.

He froze, but I pretended not to notice as I let Echo play with my hand. "The wolf attacks stopped a long time ago, Hayley. As for the dead animals, I know this is probably going to make you go into crazy petition eco-mode, but I'm pretty sure it's just some weird stuff in the plants killing them." I had to smile a little, I really kind of was an eco-maniac. "And people go missing everywhere, Hayley."

His voice was so obviously tight, and I knew there was so much more to the story. I rolled my eyes at him. "People don't go missing in a town with a population of less than a thousand people."

He gave me one of those _Drop it_ looks, and I knew he wasn't going to say anything else, even if I used all of my persuasive abilities. (Which are pretty good, if I do say so myself.)

I sighed as Echo hissed at Embry, (genius cat, or what) and got up to answer the phone as it rang, effectively dumping my cat onto the ground. She glared at me as she hopped back up and laid down where I'd just been.

"What?" I know, not exactly your traditional way of answering the phone, but I was a little annoyed. How hard id it for Embry to just give me some information?

"Hayley?" The voice on the other end sounded surprised, and it sounded suspiciously like Paul's.

"Yes." I said slowly. "What, did you think Embry could actually willingly get a girl to come here?"

I heard a distinct "Hey!" come from the living room and Paul snickered. "I think I like you, Hayley Anderson."

"I'm bursting with joy." I said sarcastically. "But I'm assuming you didn't call so you could hear me insult my cousin." I continued pointedly.

"Yeah, tell Embry I'll be there in a few minutes. I gotta talk to him about something." He hung up and I relayed the message to Embry.

He grumbled something about not getting any peace and then stood up, telling me he'd be back in a few minutes.

I sat back down on the couch as Echo crawled back onto my lap.

Why were teenage boys always disappearing on you?

**Embry POV**

I knew exactly what Paul was coming to talk about, so I stood outside under a few trees and waited.

I heard him before I saw him, so I said, "Save it, Paul. I'm not going to change my mind."

He finally came into view and sighed. "Look, you're gonna mess the kid up. It's bad enough now, but it's going to get so much worse. Especially since Hayley's already getting suspicious. Lilly told me that Hayley came asking questions today."

I froze. "What did Lilly say?"

Paul shifted uncomfortably. "She told her some stuff about the Cullens. How they don't eat and how they never talk to anyone. But the most Hayley can get out of that is that they're all anorexic or something."

This time I was the one that shifted uncomfortably. "Look, Hayley can be pretty perceptive. She's good at solving things, always has been. And if she finds out much more, I think she's gonna be able to figure it out."

"So you could just let Seth tell her." He pointed out.

"No!" I shouted. I realized I was shaking, and I literally ahd to count to ten so I could calm down. Seth had once proposed that the whole pack should go to anger management classes.

The sad thing? Sam had agreed.

"Look, Hayley's dealt with the supernatural enough in her life." I saw Paul's eyes widen, but there was no way I was going to elaborate. "I'm not getting her into this mess too. So just pass that message along to Seth, and tell him that he had better stay the hell away from her or I'll give him a lot worse than a broken ankle."

Paul rolled his eyes. "Enough with the theatrics, Embry. And you can tell Seth yourself. But you don't know what it's like to imprint, okay?" His eyes glossed over a little, and he was obviously thinking of Rachel, although he still sounded serious. "The only thing you can see is them, and you have to know that they're happy and safe. If you won't let Seth tell her anything, then you could at least let him be her friend. It's going to kill him if he can't have any contact with her."

I laughed bitterly. "You think I didn't think about that? Because I did. I've seen the whole imprint thing in your mind, and Sam's and Quil's and Jake's and Jared's and Collin's, too. I know that it's gonna be torture for him. But you guys would all do anything for your imprints, and like you said, Hayley's already suspicious. She's already got some pretty good persuasive skills, if she asks Seth what's going on, he's gonna tell her."

Paul sighed, seeming to give up, even though I knew he thought that I would eventually give in. "Whatever. I want to spend some quality time with this Hayley girl and see what's got everyone's panties in a tizzy."

I rolled my eyes as he walked past me, shouting to him, "Just watch out for her cat! It doesn't like anyone but her."

I heard him laugh as he walked through the front door, and then I heard him cuss as he was most likely being attacked by Hayley's cat.

I almost felt bad for Seth, I really did, because I knew it must be hell for him. But Hayley had been through so much, she'd had to lose so many people, and that attack...I don't know how she'd come back from that. And I'd be damned if I had to send her back to that place in her head.

So, sorry Seth, but you're not getting anywhere near Hayley.

**Sorry about all the changing POV's, normally I try to keep it just Hayley and then add a little Seth. But I had to add Embry at the end! Also, someone commented on how this story was very good but had a few grammatical errors. I'm sorry, but English wasn't my first language, Italian was. And then I learned Spanish and _then_ English, so...yeah. I tell you, it gets extremely confusing, because I'm only seventeen and ****I take French at school. I'll start saying something in Spanish or something and then she gets all pissed at me....But hey, knowing 4 languages will probably get me a pretty good job one day!  
**

**Review, please! And if not, then you could at least vote in my poll.  
**


	4. Unicorns and Bipolarity

**A/N: I should really probably be working on one of my eight million projects right now, but I was just too tempted. The plot bunnies inhabited my head, and they won't go away until I finish this chapter and my one for my Mortal Instruments story. At least, that's what I've been telling myself so I don't feel bad for procrastinating. **

**Songs:**

**The Scientist- Coldplay  
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**Cooler Than Me- Mike Posner**

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* * *

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**Hayley POV**

I was sitting on the couch, still watching "Lost" while Echo sat on my lap when that guy who's name I'm pretty sure is Paul came bursting through the door.

I'm seriously staring to believe that they put something weird in the food in this place. Okay, maybe one person can be that huge. Two? A little weird. But seven or eight? Not that many people in one place are just naturally that large. I would think that maybe it just runs in the Quileute genes, but I'm part Quileute (even if I don't look like it) and I can almost be classified as a midget. And I've seen plenty of other people around here who are perfectly normal sized.

Paul smiled. "So, this is the infamous Hayley."

I raised an eyebrow. "And I'm assuming you're the angry Paul?"

He grinned impishly at me. "From what I've heard, you've got a temper to rival mine."

I shrugged. "I've been known to get a little violent."

He sat down next to me, eyeballing Echo warily as she hissed at him. "So. What exactly did you do to get Seth all whipped and Embry all protective?"

I looked at him, confused. "Elaborate, please."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, Embry won't let anywhere near you and Seth is starting to hear Irish voices because of it."

I raised an eyebrow again. "Irish voices? That's a little weird. Canadian voices would be so much cooler. 'Go kill the unicorn, eh?'"

"...Unicorn?"

"Unicorns are real! The Narwhal. It's a unicorn, just a water unicorn. It may not be the way we pictured them, but its got the huge horn on its forehead. So there! Unicorns are real."

"...Are you high?"

I laughed. "I don't need drugs to be this way. I'm just naturally this weird. Though if you must know, I might have been using a few too many sharpies today."

"Yeah. I think you did. Maybe you should stay away from those sharpies."

"But they're so much fun! And life without fun would be boring. And boring isn't fun."

Paul laughed and shook his head. "Less than two minutes and I already know that you're insane." I smiled innocently as he looked down at me with an incredulous look. "How the hell did we end up with you?"

I smiled again and winked. "Oh, I may be crazy, but I provide entertainment. And what's life without entertainment? Entertainment is fun, and life without fun is boring. And boring isn't-"

"Boring isn't fun, yeah, I got it."

I grinned as he looked at me skeptically. He seemed to come to a decision. "I think I'm going to like you, Hayley Anderson."

I smiled mischievously. "Everyone does. At first."

* * *

After a few hours of...discussion (can you really call arguing about Narnia a discussion?) Paul eventually left. I wasn't really sure where Embry was, he hadn't come back yet, but I didn't really mind.

I honestly liked Paul; He was fun and a good distraction. But when he was gone, thoughts that I didn't particularly like started to haunt me, so I decided to go for a run through the woods.

Obviously, being the kind of person that can get lost in their own house, I stayed to the trails.

It was peaceful in the woods, I couldn't hear anything creepy because I had my headphones in but the sky through the trees was gray, leaving the forest in a kind of dark haze. I probably should have been a little freaked out about that, but my mind has never been exactly...rational.

But after about ten minutes, memories began to flood into my mind. Memories of that night. Memories of the night that my brother told me what he was going to do.

Ask anyone that knows me, and they'll say I'm good at control. I almost never let my emotions take over, and I never panic in an emergency.

But that's just when there are people around. I try to keep that control when I'm alone, too, but there are times when it doesn't work. Times when the memories are too overwhelming and my control breaks.

But for once, I stopped myself from losing that control. There were people in the world right now, stuck hiding in an alley in the rain or sleeping under trees with absolutely no food. There were people who didn't have anyone to help them and comfort them. (And yeah, that sounds way too cheesy. But it's true.)

Except I never really let people comfort me. When I look in their eyes and see the pity, I seem to get all detached. Something about the pity never seems real to me, even when I know it is. It always seems so surreal, and I don't need someone to feel sorry for me. It's not worth it.

You always tell people you're okay, that there are other things to think about and that they shouldn't worry.

Except it's usually not okay. And they usually _should_ worry.

When you take a look at something broken, you usually just feel a pang of sadness and move on. But the day you finally realize how broken something or someone really is? That's the day you can never go back.

And the truth is, I'd been broken beyond repair. **(A/N: Yeah, I stole a line from Twilight. But this _is_ a Twilight fanfic. And that's one of the only lines that I like.)**

And I've always been good at hiding that. I was finally starting to realize just how good I've been.

And I was okay with it. Hiding things is what I do.

After all, everyone's got a secret. Even the people who claim they don't.

* * *

When I was done with my run, (and my little epiphany, too) I jumped into the shower so I could warn up, and when I got out Embry was home.

"Where the hell did you disappear to?" I asked curiously as I dried my hair with the towel.

He smiled a little. "I could ask you the same thing."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think it's that hard to figure out."

He was about to respond when Aidan, Lilly, and Seth all burst through the door. Dripping wet, might I add. I guess I hadn't really noticed how hard it was raining when I was in the woods.

Aidan and Lilly immediately walked over to me, Lilly with an excited expression on her face and Aidan with an amused one.

Seth stayed where he was, eying Embry warily.

I rolled my eyes. "You're dripping." I stated.

"Oh, very good, Captain Obvious. Did you know that it's raining, too?" Lilly said sarcastically.

Seth was staring at me with that intense look again, and it was starting to seriously freak me out. I barely knew him, and sure, he helped calm me down that night in the woods. He'd made me feel like a normal person for a few minutes. But that doesn't mean you can stare at me all you want!

His gaze raked over my body, and it was then that I remembered what I'd thrown on when I'd gotten out of the shower. I was waering a tight neon green tank top with black shorts. _Short_ shorts.

I turned to Aidan, only to see that he was doing the same thing. I though I heard Embry growl and Lilly giggled. I wasn't really sure why they were staring, there wasn't much to stare out. With my dark, long red hair and clear skin, I know I'm not exactly hard on the eyes. But I was exactly 5'1, and pretty much every part of me was flat. No curves, no cleavage.

This time I know I heard a growl, and Seth's head snapped away from me and turned towards Embry. He looked almost sheepish.

....?

I turned towards Aidan and Lilly and motioned for them to follow me into the living room. We sat down and I crossed my legs, looking at them expectantly.

Aidan rolled his eyes at my expression and said, "You're starting school tomorrow, right?"

I breathed out. "Oh. Yeah. I'd forgotten about that."

Lilly gasped. "How could you forget about that? It's your first day in a completely new place. You should be freaking out."

I shrugged. "I'm used to it."

Aidan raised an eyebrow. "Well, Lilly was so sure you'd be hyperventilating by now, so she dragged me over so we could 'comfort' you." He used air quotes and I could hear the amusement in his eyes. It also didn't sound like he minded very much that he was here.

Then again, I didn't mind very much either.

* * *

**Seth POV**

I should be happy, right? I'd just imprinted. Embry saw how it was affecting me and it looked like he was maybe possibly considering letting me be friends with her. I'd just found the girl that was made for me! So I should be pretty damn excited right now.

Instead, all I can think about is how fucked up this stupid imprinting system is. I ended up with some midget girl who seems to like someone else and runs off into the woods t bonfires having a panic attack. I got stuck with a girl who I wasn't even allowed to near.

And even though Embry didn't say much about it, I knew that I'd gotten stuck with a girl with major baggage.

The imprinting system had seriously fucked up. It had made a mistake.

Of course, I was supposedly going to have to see her in school tomorrow. And although I might be mad right now, I knew that as soon as I saw her, all that anger would go right down the drain.

I know that I'm supposed to be the nice one in the pack, the calm one. But instead, I was starting to feel like Leah or something. I was turning bitter, and it had been less than a week.

Imprinting took away all your choices. I would never be able to look at another girl in the same way, and I knew I would never be able to really think of anyone other than Hayley.

I know that Sam and Jake and Jared and everyone else are always saying that after you imprint, you don't _want_ a choice, that you're happy with you have. Your imprint is the perfect match for you, and when you imprint it's like skipping over all the dating that wastes your time and you get what you've always wanted.

Well, I don't think Hayley is what I've always wanted. She's too intuitive; It would always be impossible to keep a secret for her. (Although when I see her again, I doubt I'll _want_ to keep any secrets from her.) I'd seen the conversation she'd had with Paul, and sure, she seemed fun, but it didn't seem like she could take anything seriously. She was too short and I'd never particularly liked girls with read hair....

And I almost wanted to phase right there and attack_ myself_. There was no way I could really think anything bad about my imprint, especially anything about her looks, she was beautiful.

God damn it, imprinting sucked.

And Embry, you suck too.

Just as I was thinking this, Embry burst through the front door. Oh, the irony.

"What do you want?" I asked sourly from where I sat on the couch.

Embry sighed and looked me over. "I know that this must suck for you, but you have to understand that I'm not trying to hurt anyone. I'm just trying to protect Hayley."

I laughed bitterly. "No, you're trying to control her life. Dictating who she can and can't see. Don't you think she can decide for herself?"

Embry sighed again. "Look, I know I can't say anything that will make you feel better. But this is the way it has to be. I know that Hayley is all about choices and doesn't really believe in fate, but I'm making this choice for her."

"Embry," I knew I sounded like I was practically begging him, but I couldn't help it. "She's meant for me. Or I'm meant for her, however you want to say it. I can't just forget about it."

Embry shook his head. "You have no idea how sorry I am, Seth. But this is how it has to happen. Hayley can't get mixed up in this." He turned around and walked out. The sincerity and hurt in his voice were the only things keeping me from running after him.

I was seriously starting to wonder if I was bipolar. One minute I'm trying to convince myself that the imprint was completely wrong, the next I'm begging Embry to let me be with her.

God, what was happening to me? Begging was so NOT something I did.

Then again, ever since Hayley had gotten here, I had started doing a lot of things I never used to.

**Sorry that it took a while. But we've had some family issues and like I said, they've been piling on the projects. So please don't be angry if my updating is a little sporadic in the next three weeks. But as soon as school is over, I should be updating more regularly.**

**Review, please! (And is it just me, or did they make the button ugly? I thought it was so much prettier when it was green.)**

**And hey, voting in my poll would be nice!  
**


	5. Avoid

**A/N: Well, at least I updated quickly this time. Not sure how good it is, but whatever.**

**Sorry for the delay, but we've been getting a lot of projects since school's almost over. And I would have had this up yesterday, but I was watching the epic LOST finale. I'm so sad! It's all over now.**

**And I had to retype this three times because my laptop was being retarded, so that's another reason why it's so late. And I'm lazy, so I didn't really want to keep typing the same thing over and over again.  
**

**Songs:**

**Get Higher- Paper Tongues**

**Give Me A Sign (Forever And Ever)- Breaking Benjamin**

**Cooler Than Me- Mike Posner - Love that song!  
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* * *

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**Hayley POV**

I never asked for any of it. I didn't want to be special, I didn't want to have to deal with the fear and the memories for so long. I didn't know that that day was going to change my life.

But the truth is, there are things out there that shouldn't be. There's stuff that we pretend not to believe, tell ourselves it's all just a dream. Stuff of nightmares. We pretend it doesn't exist, pretend it's all lies and myths and stories told to scare the children.

But the truth is, it's out there. Even closer than we think.

And there's nothing we can do about it.

* * *

I should be utterly terrified. I should be hoping I can fade into the wall and wondering if I'll fit in with a good group.

Instead, I'm sitting in History, my third class, thinking about how I really want a glaze doughnut right now.

And then I started thinking about how I would really need something to drink with that doughnut. And then, for some reason, I started thinking about Seth.

Which was really weird, considering he was starting to creep me out. He had been in my first hour class and he was in this one, too, and he just spent the whole period staring at me.

Creeper.

All of the others from the HCWTBSG (Huge Creepy Way-too-Built Steroids Guys) table were staring at me too, though it wasn't as intense as when Seth did it.

I mean, I know that when it's your first day at a new school, everyone stares, but this was just weird. Like, creepy-stalker-going-to-kill- me weird.

And I don't really like that kind of weird.

Aidan and Lilly came and sat next to me at lunch, saying that they were taking a break from their own friends. Seth was staring at me again, so I looked down at my lunch, muttering, "Purple monkeys. Blue Unicorns. Green sea monkeys. Yellow turtles. Gold Adam Lamberts. Red doves."

Aidan and Lilly gave me these weird looks, so I said, "Don't ask. Just...don't ask."

Whenever I'm freaked out or something and need to calm down, I always start applying random colors to random animals. (And I always add Adam Lambert in there!)

"The staring is just really starting to freak me out." I said when I could finally speak.

Lilly raised her eyebrows at me. "So why don't you do something about it?" She asked in a challenging way, smirking.

I raised _an_ eyebrow at her (She looked surprised. Ha! Take _that_!) and said, "You know, that's a pretty good idea, Lillian."

I'd just randomly decided to call her Lillian, but she gasped like I'd just called her the worst name in the world. I shot Aidan a questioning look, but his expression was amused and he wasn't looking at me.

I shrugged and stood up, walking over to the HCWTBSG table. They were all, of course, watching, and they stopped talking and set their food down, as if preparing themselves.

Good. I've been known to have a temper.

I was completely annoyed, and I had this whole shouting thing planned out in my head, but as soon as I got to the table, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

I walked right up to them, picked up the little Styrofoam bowl on Seth's tray, and dumped it over his head. Then I picked up his water bottle, dumped half of _that_ over his head, and squirted the rest of it over every guy's tray.

That's what you get, creepers.

I stepped back, gave an evil little half smile, and put my hands on my hips. "Stop staring, please." I said sweetly. They all looked shocked, except for Embry, who was looking distinctly amused.

Creeper.

I stood there for a few more seconds, as if to reiterate my point, and then turned around and walked back to a laughing Aidan and Lilly, not glancing back.

"I can't believe...you just...did...that." Lilly gasped out between giggles.

Aidan looked at me in amazement, seeming a little shocked. "Those guys and their friends are like, l_egendary_. They're basically the La Push Gang."

I rolled my eyes. "Just because they're getting fed human growth hormones or something doesn't mean they're going to come and gang-rape you." I winked at Aidan. "But don't worry, if they try, I'll be right there to protect you from the big man-boys."

Aidan gave me this look that said I belonged in a mental hospital. "Yeah, okay." He replied sarcastically.

I smiled and looked at Lilly, since she had finally stopped laughing. She was glancing back and forth between Aidan and I with a calculating look. Then she leaned over and whispered something in Aidan's ear as I shot them a confused look.

Aidan paled a little (actually, not really, considering he's all tan and Quileute so he can't really be pale, but that's not the point.) and nodded, glancing at me.

"Hey, Hayley, do you want to come outside with me for a little while?"

I nodded, saying, "Sure," Still completely miffed by what was going on.

We both stood up and walked out the cafeteria doors. There were a few people sitting outside and eating, but it looked like it could start raining any second. Aidan led me to the overhang of the front building and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I'm guessing you didn't just come out here to find out if you would get gang-raped."

He rolled his eyes, relaxing a little. "Sorry, but no. You don't get to save me from getting gang-raped."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't? I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." He rolled his eyes again and I said, "If that's not why we're here, whould you mind telling me? I kind of want to get back to my doughnut."

He raised and eyebrow too, saying, "What doughnut? The glaze doughnut that Lilly ate while you were busy with your food-murdering fest?"

"First of all, food-murdering fest? I mean, I know I wasted some food over there, but it's not like anyone eats the mac and cheese anyways. It's too rubbery." I scrunched up my nose in disgust as I thought of what the food at my old school had been like. Someone had dropped a hot dog on the floor, and it had literally bounced right back up, practically right into his hands. "And second of all, she better not have ate my freaking doughnut. I can make her death look like an accident." I huffed.

Aidan chuckled. "Yeah, okay, so she didn't eat your doughnut. But I didn't bring you out here to talk about non-accidental accidental deaths." He turned a little more serious, and I looked at him curiously. He took a deep breath and said, "I wanted to know if you'd come with me to Nicole's party this Saturday."

"Who's Nicole?" I felt like an idiot asking this, but it was first day here, so at least I had an excuse.

And then I realized that he'd just asked me out.

He waved a hand dismissively. "She's just a girl in our grade. She's got one of the biggest houses in La Push, and she has a party like, once a month."

I nodded. "Well...Sure. I'll go with you." I didn't really even think about, and the dazzling smile he flashed me just made me feel like I'd made the right decision.

We walked back inside, and Lilly was grinning madly.

Well, I guess she approved.

Not that it really mattered that much, but...

.

I was going on a date. With an actual person. With my own free will.

Embry was _so_ going to kill me.

Or start dancing around the room singing about cabbages since he's so happy I finally found someone worthy.

It all depends on whether or not he likes Aidan.

Not that I really care all that much.

* * *

My next class, Honors Biology, was with both Brady and Collin. And yes, they stared. But Brady was funny and Collin was kind of quiet, but when he did talk it made you just immediately like him.

Thankfully, Seth wasn't in that class.

But after that, I had study hall. And Seth _was_ in that class. And what do you know? He down right next to me as soon as he walking into the room and saw me.

Study hall was held in a classroom near the back of the school, which was different because I was so used to having study hall in the library. But this school barely had a library, so they held this class in an old science room full of lab tables that they crammed together.

The teacher wasn't even in the room, and from what I could tell, it seemed like he hardly ever was. (Or was it a she?) Seth took out a few books but just talked to a few guys in the class while a few people came up and introduced themselves.

When a few people finally decided to do homework, Seth turned to me, giving me that intense look that made it seem like I was the only thing in the world to him.

Creeper!

"Can I help you?" I asked, kind of snidely.

He gave me a half grin. "Nope. Unless you know anything about the periodic table."

I rolled my eyes; I'd learned about that two years ago. But he didn't need to know that. "Sorry, I don't. But you can go ask someone else." I hinted, not so subtle.

He just gave me that look again. I got little butterflies in my stomach and was tempted to just stare back into his warm brown eyes, but I broke his gaze and looked down at my math homework.

All through that hour, I could feel Seth's eyes on me. There were a few times when my gaze met his, but for the most part I resisted looking at him.

The sad thing was that I knew this was probably going to be a reoccurring thing.

* * *

I bolted when the bell rang, happy that the day was over.

But I, having the horrible luck that I do, ended up crashing straight into some girl.

She looked down at me in rage, but when she got a look at my face, her expression turned a little more evil. She helped me up, saying, "Hello. You must be the new girl."

I raised an eyebrow disdainfully as I brushed myself off. "I have a name. It's Hayley."

She smirked. "Yes, I know. I'm Carly." I finally got a good look at her. She was obviously beautiful, with the same tan skin and black hair, but hers was glossy and wavy and she had light blue eyes that contrasted in an interesting way. "And this," She continued, gesturing to the girl standing slightly behind her, "Is Emma." I looked at Emma to see that she was also tan, but not in the Quileute way. She had white blond hair and these kind of creepy brown eyes, so close to black that you could barely see the pupil. They were both tall, (Though everyone was taller than me) and both almost as slim as I was.

I raised an eyebrow again. "So?"

Carly smirked. (It was pretty obvious she did that a lot.) "We just thought it was important to tell you to stay away from Seth and Aidan. Sorry, they're both taken."

I snorted. "Sure."

"It's true. I've had a claim on Seth since we were freshman. We dated for a long time, and you can't go after someone's ex."

I rolled my eyes, knowing this girl was completely insane. "Yeah, well, that's great. But I'm not interested in Seth."

Carly smirked again and said, "Too bad you can't have Aidan either. He's Emma's, for the same reasons."

This time I was the one that smirked. "Well, that's just too bad for Emma. Because he asked me out this Saturday, and I don't plan on canceling just because the two of the school bitches tell me to."

They both looked a little affronted. "You're going to wish you never said that, freak." Carly hissed.

I turned around and walked away from the most cliched scene ever.

* * *

Later, when I got home, I thought about what Carly had said. _Freak_.

I didn't really care what she thought of me, but she was right about the freak part. That day made me a freak.

Mankind always finds a way to explain the supernatural things that exist, always find a way to avoid the truth, just because they 're too afraid of it. Vampires become homicides and serial killers, witch attacks become freak storms, wolves become bears and Bigfoot.

They're what we call excuses. Humans have to find other ways to explain the things they've been taught shouldn't exist.

But they do.

And I'm one of the few 'freaks' who knows that.

**I'm sorry it's so sucky! I'm just not happy with this chapter, but I figured that I should get it out so I don't feel so guilty for waiting so long.**

**I don't even care if you review. But please vote in my poll!  
**


	6. Interrupted Manipulation

**A/N: Sorry that it took so long, but next week is the last week of school. Updating should be more normal then. I promise! (Well, at least I hope so.)**

**I had to write this twice, because the first time I accidentally deleted it and couldn't undo it, and it was a lot better the second time, so I'm sorry if it's a little sucky and non-descriptive. **

**For the purpose of this story, Quil hasn't imprinted on anyone yet. He will, eventually, on an OC, and I might possibly do a spin-off of those two.  
**

**Songs:**

**Opposite Of Adults- Chiddy Bang**

**Brick By Boring Brick- Paramore**

**You Look Better When I'm Drunk- The White Tie Affair**

**

* * *

**

**Hayley POV**

Manipulation is easy. It's all just a game.

And I like games.

I'm quite good at them, too.

Manipulation is something we all do, even if we don't like to admit it.

But some of us are better at it than others.

There are two simple ways. You act all innocent and wide-eyed, or you play the flirty, sultry girl.

Generally, I think option two is more fun.

And tonight, that was the option I was going to use.

Embry and Seth and all those boys have a secret, and I want to know what it is. I've always said that no, curiosity didn't kill the cat, it kidnapped the cat, tried to drown it, dangled a mouse in front if it, clubbed it one the head, and then flayed the cat.

But that doesn't stop me from being curious.

I knew exactly how I would do it, too.

Quil Atera was a flirt, and I knew that if I chose option two, it would be simple to get the information out of him.

I had arranged to go to a club in Seattle tonight. Embry had left with some excuse of going to Emily's (who I'd finally met, by the way, and need I say, BEST. COOK. EVER.) which was a very good thing, considering I knew that he wouldn't really approve of what I was planning on doing.

Not that I'd really planned on telling him.

Kim, (Who I had recently learned wasn't as shy as she first seemed) had told me that she was SO not letting me go alone, just because she had to go. Jared was also with 'Emily.'

But Kim just _had_ to go and invite Seth, Brady, and Quil. I mean, I needed Quil there, but Seth? Creepy stalker boy?

When she'd told me that Seth was coming, I'd groaned and complained a little bit.

I knew that I was supposed to hate him, but then why had my heart started beating double time when Kim had mentioned that Seth would be coming?

* * *

Kim whistled when I stepped into her car. I was wearing a dark purple v-neck that showed a lot more than necessary, and a pair of black short-shorts that were a lot more like underwear. I was also attempting to pull of heels so that I wouldn't be, well...a midget. My auburn hair was straight as ever, hanging down to just above my ribcage, and my eyes were made-up in a smoky way.

The ride was supposed to be about an hour and a half long, and we chattered meaninglessly most of the way.

Although she did state that I belonged in a mental home when I started talking about the blue unicorns.

And then I started telling her about the gunbrella.

"What the hell is a gunbrella?" She exclaimed when I accidentally mentioned it.

I grinned. "Well, see, there was this time in Ohio when my friend came over, and we were just randomly walking around like we always do. It was supposed to rain, so she said we should bring an umbrella, and I grabbed this big red one with a really huge point at the end. We were just walking around, talking in retarded accents that were, like, a mix of Russian, German, Chinese, Japanese, and I don't know what else, and we started talking about how it could be a weapon. So I turned it sideways and said that it could be a gun, therefore making it a gunbrella."

She stared at me for as long as she could without crashing us into something, then turned back, muttering, "Okay, you officially need a pretty white room with a nice little straitjacket to go with it."

I just laughed and turned up the music.

When we got to the club, I immediately knew that it was the perfect place. You could hear the music from outside, and the line was immensely long, full of what mainly looked like goths. (Not that I have any problem with that, it's not like they take guns everywhere or cut themselves. They just like to wear black and a lot of eye make-up. There's nothing wrong with that.)

We just walked right up to the guy at the door and he let us in, like some stupid scene from a movie.

But hey, I'm not gonna complain.

Pulsing lights, pounding music, and dancing bodies. That was the only way I could describe it.

Then again, explaining isn't really my thing. I'm more of an action person, rather than words.

We spotted the guys sitting in a corner with their drinks, looking totally comfortable but completely antisocial.

I looked over at Kim, grinned, and walked over.

I was going to have_ way_ too much fun with this.

* * *

I don't know how long we spent trying to convince Brady not to go talk to that girl, but he did it anyways. He's almost as stubborn as me, which is normally something I admire, but not in a situation like this.

The girl was standing at the bar, and had a very large diamond on her hand. (Although to be fair, there _was_ a chance that it wasn't an engagement ring...Though I doubted it.) She was tall, and well...I'll just say that she was out of Brady's league so that I don't sound like a lesbian. (Not that I have anything against them, either. You can't help who you love, right?)

But he had walked over there. And talked to her.

I didn't really wait to see the reaction, because now was the perfect time to put my plan into action. Kim and Seth had gone off to dance with each other, and left Quil and I alone. (I hadn't told Kim about the plan. To be truthful...It was more fun when I was the only one that knew. But I think she suspected.)

I stood up and walked over to the couch Quil was sitting on slowly, and sat down to him as close as possible without actually sitting _on_ him. He merely raised an eyebrow at me and got the faint shadow of a smirk on his face.

"Mind if I have some of your drink?" I asked sweetly, innocently.

Hey, even if I was going for option two, I could still mix some of option one in there.

His smirk grew and he jerked his head towards his drink, telling me that he didn't care. I reached over, across him, giving him an eyeful, and downed half of his drink before setting it back down. I wasn't sure what was in it, but I knew it was alcohol, and that was enough for me. Alcohol always helps in situations like this.

His smirk grew more pronounced as he continued to stare at me, an amused glint in his eyes.

I rolled _my_ eyes, saying, "You know, generally when two people are left alone together, they converse."

He laughed that rumbling laugh that all the Quileute guys seem to have and said, "Actually, they generally do more screaming than talking."

I smiled. "True. But it's not _always_ that way."

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Okay, so then tell me what _you're_ here for."

Now I was the one who was smirking. I leaned closer, bringing his face down to mine and turned his head so I could whisper in his ear. "I don't think you need me to answer that." I nipped his ear a little bit, pulled back, and stood up. "Now, let's go dance." It was more of a command than anything, but he rose from the couch and followed me into the mass of dancing bodies.

I don't know how long we were dancing for, but I know that we were flirting the whole time. I saw Kim once or twice with some other people that she said she knew from Forks, I saw Brady with that girl, (I was amazed she hadn't thrown some kind of drink in his face yet.) but I never saw Seth. I wasn't really sure where he had disappeared to, but I assumed that he was probably with some girl in one of the closets at the time.

And I knew I shouldn't care.

But I did.

Then I remembered my reason for being here, and increased the suggestive remarks with Quil.

It was obvious that this boy was practically and expert in this area; He was obviously a huge flirt that knew exactly what he was doing.

But that was okay. Because I knew what I was doing, too.

By eleven o'clock, we were sitting on the couch again, considerably closer than we had been before. His arm was around me, and he was whispering things in my ear while I giggled.

It was at this time that Seth decided to reappear. He didn't looked flushed, tousled, happy, or any of the other things that were usually associated with what I'd assumed he was doing.

No, instead he looked hurt.

He also looked like he was ready to kill Quil.

At first, Quil just stared at him with a mild, bored gaze. But when Seth started to shake, Quil stood up, looking a little afraid and a little angry. He started murmuring things to Seth, most of which I couldn't hear. I caught words like 'her choice' and 'you don't want to hurt her' along with the typical words used to calm someone down. When Quil said the thing about not hurting me, Seth looked at me and his gaze softened. He stopped shaking and his shoulders slumped as he calmed down.

No, he wasn't angry now. Instead, he just looked utterly defeated.

* * *

I couldn't continue with the plan after I saw Seth like that, so I bolted, texting Kim and telling her to meet me out by her car. Five minutes later, we were on our way back to La Push.

"This is a kind of cliche question, but do you want to talk about it?" She asked timidly about halfway through the silent car ride.

I sighed. Even though I didn't want to talk about it, I knew that I probably should. "Kim...Seth is a creepy stalker guy who Embry told me to stay far away from. I mean, I never listen to Embry, but I wouldn't be surprised if what he said about Seth was true. I hated him when I first met him. He just stares at me all the time and...Why did I feel bad tonight when I saw him like that?"

Kim didn't really have any idea what I was talking about, but she'd apparently seen Seth's face before she had walked out of the club. She sighed too, and said, "Maybe because you don't hate him anymore. I'm not sure what Embry said, but Seth's a good guy. Seth's a_ really_ good guy. He's never really noticed girls in 'that way' before, but believe me, he's noticed you. And I don't know what went on tonight, but it's obvious that you feel guilty. Just get some sleep and apologize to him tomorrow."

I laughed bitterly. "I'm not even sure what I'm apologizing _for_. And I doubt he would accept it."

She smiled for what was obviously some inside joke that I knew nothing about. "Oh, believe me, he'd accept it." She said dryly. "And if you think hard enough about it, I'm sure you can figure out what you're sorry for."

I guess she was right. I mean, you can't feel guilty unless you've done something wrong, right?

Except I had NO. IDEA. what I'd done wrong. Sure, I'd flirted and kinda-sorta seduced Quil in order to get some information, but I didn't see what that had to do with Seth. We'd barely talked to each other. Yet he seemed hurt by what I'd been doing, even though he barely knew me.

Which led me to believe that this all had something to do with that stupid secret of theirs.

That stupid secret which I had yet to figure out.

That stupid secret that I was _going_ to figure out. No matter what it took.

Hehe...Way to sound dramatic, Hayley.

**Yeah, so...I don't know. Review, please? And if you haven't already, go vote in my poll. Pretty pretty please? I'll give you a virtual strawberry sundae. And if you don't want it...Too bad. Because that's all I'm giving out.**

**Unless you ask questions. I always try to answer them as best I can without giving too much away.**

**And here's a motivator. The first two reviewers that have written stories, I will go read one (possibly more) of them and review. And then I will tell other people to go read it and review. **

**And hey, want to go vote in my poll?**

**Also, the link to Hayley's outfit is on my profile, near the bottom.  
**


	7. Crash

**A/N: Well, I didn't get a many review a I've gotten for the last chapters, but I still got some, so I'm good. Reviews are like strawberries for me.**

**And I REALLY like strawberries. Especially chocolate covered ones. Those are the best.**

**Sorry if the beginning is too dramatic. It seems like it is to me, but I didn't really know what else to say.  
**

**Songs:**

**Where We Were- Thriving Ivory**

**Sorry Ass Apology- Rydaznrtist**

* * *

**Hayley POV**

I didn't know what was going to happen that day. If I had, maybe I wouldn't have gotten in the car. Maybe I wouldn't have answered the phone. There were so many things that could have been done to prevent it. So many events that led up to that one thing. If I had changed any one of those events, it never would have happened.

But I can't see the future. So it happened. There's nothing anyone can do to change it.

* * *

I suck at apologies.

I don't know if it's because of pride or dignity or something, or if it's just the fact that I'm not the most emotional person in the world, but I suck at them.

Which is why I was dreading going to see Seth today. But I'd promised Kim, and I don't usually like to break my word.

Embry was watching me like a hawk in the morning, almost like he knew what I was about to do, even though I knew he didn't. I'm not really sure where he went after noon, just that when I got out of the shower, he wasn't there anymore.

No one ever tells me anything, do they?

But this was a regular occurrence, so I wasn't too worried about it. Actually, in fact, disappearing was a regular occurrence for _all _of those guys. And it's not like it was all of the guys in La Push, because Aidan was fine and so were his friends, but Embry and Jake and Seth and all of their friends...They always disappeared, and I had no idea what they were doing. And it was normally only two or three of them at a time. I know that Kim and Emily know exactly what they're doing; it's obvious, and they're not very good liars.

But it's not like anyone's ever going to tell me anything. I just sit in the corner curled in a ball while they all laugh.

Figuratively, anyways. I don't like corners. Or curling up in a ball. It's too uncomfortable.

But if no one was going to tell me anything, then why should I apologize for something when I don't even know _why_ I'm apologizing? They have their secrets, and I get that. But if they're not even going to bother telling me anything about this huge secret, then I don't have to apologize.

My phone ringing broke me out of my thoughts.

"Hello?"

Sadly, I didn't even bother to check the caller ID. "Hales! I hope you're on your way to Seth's house right now!"

I groaned when I realized it was Kim. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have answered. "No, I'm not, and I have a feeling you knew that, because that's why you called."

I heard her giggle. And that just made me want to break something. "Yeah. So why aren't you apologizing?"

I made an angry noise. "Because I don't _know_ why I'm apologizing! And because I just...don't want to."

"Hayley, I told you last night, Seth is a really good person. And he likes you. And I don't care what you say, you like him too. He-"

"No, I do not like him! He's weird and creepy and he stares too much. Not to mention the fact that he always has a fever, just like the rest of them, and that he's too buff to be natural for someone our age. And he's way too mysterious. I don't care if you think mysterious guys are hot, to me they're just annoying. You've all got these secrets, and I know that everyone has secrets, but the ones all of you have are too big for me to not worry about. And I'll bet he's a flake, just like the rest of that pack."

I have no idea where the word pack came from, but it seemed to fit. They all looked a lot alike, they all had those weird characteristics, and they all talked in hushed voices whenever they looked tense.

Kim sighed. "Look, maybe you don't understand now, but I know you will. Just give it some time. You'll find out. But in the meantime, stop torturing Seth and go apologize."

"Kim, what the hell are you talking about? What did I do, and why would that torture Seth?"

She made a frustrated noise, and when she spoke again, she sounded angrier than I had ever heard her sound. "You really don't get it, do you? Don't you remember what you did last night at the club, Hayley? A certain little thing involving Quil?"

I started to laugh, just because I knew it would aggravate her further. "So? I decided to have a little bit of fun. Last I checked, I was still allowed to do that, Seth or no Seth. And it's not like Seth and I are anything. We've barely talked. Even if he did have a problem with me and Quil, that doesn't mean I should apologize. I shouldn't have to tell Seth that I'm sorry I was making out with his friend."

I could hear her muttering to herself through the phone. Something about 'getting Seth to tell her' and about paws. (WTF? What do paws have to do with this? What, is she going to buy me a dog or something? I mean, that would be pretty cool, but dogs have nothing to do with apologies.)

"Hayley, meet me at First Beach at two, okay? And if you're not there, I'll get Jared to come find you and _drag_ you there."

I rolled my eyes. "And exactly why am I meeting you at a beach when it's forty degrees out?"

She sighed angrily. "Just be there. You'll find out why. And you're smirking right now, aren't you?"

I smiled. "Yup. You know how much fun I have annoying people."

I could sense her rolling her eyes before she said, "See you at two" and hung up.

I don't know which I wanted to do less: Apologize to Seth or go meet Kim. Honestly, I think I'd rather see Seth. Kim may look shy and wispy, but if she gets angry enough, she's the exact opposite. I'd learned that from watching her and Jared.

Of course, I didn't plan on bowing to her every demand like Jared did/does. That boy is _whipped_.

But hey, at least now I didn't have to stumble my way through some crap apology.

* * *

It was officially two fifteen, and I was officially late. And Kim was going to officially kill me, then bring me back just so she could apologize for killing me, then kill me again.

Really, it was Embry's fault. He'd come home right when I was about to leave, and then decided he was going to interrogate me about what had happened at the club last night (how had he even known I was there?) and where exactly I was going.

What surprised me the most, though, was the fact that he didn't seem to care what I had done with Quil. Like he was fine with the fact that I had a one-time fooling around session with the flirt of the pack. And when he'd found out that I was only going to visit Kim, he threw me the keys and told me I could come back whenever I wanted to.

Like I hadn't planned on doing that anyways.

But now, as I drove in my car to First Beach, I thought about how he just seemed happy that I hadn't been doing anything with Seth. When I'd told him that I was with Quil most of the night, he smiled a little and reiterated the fact that Seth just liked to have a new conquest every week.

Yeah. Because Quil wasn't like that at all...

But the worst part was that when Embry had said that, I'd wanted to defend Seth. I really did. It was like something inside of me was about to snap.

I guess it's a good thing that I've prevented myself from snapping for so long.

As I was thinking about all of this, I wasn't really paying attention to the road. Obviously it was gray outside, like it always is here, but it wasn't raining. It was foggy, though, and I didn't know the roads all that well. I was probably driving too fast, because I was already late.

And that was when, out of nowhere, I saw the two lights shine through the fog, positioned exactly where they would be on a car.

My mind processed this in a matter of seconds and my body reacted before I had a chance to even think about it. My arms jerked to the side, still holding the steering wheel. The car swerved quickly, and I tried to press lightly on the break, knowing if I pressed too hard it would only make it worse. I tried to spin the steering wheel the other way.

But no matter what I did, the car kept moving steadily towards what I was pretty sure was the forest. The screeching of the tires on the road made me want to scream.

The impact itself nearly knocked me out. I was still wearing the seatbelt, and it cut into me when I slammed forward. My head hit something that I was pretty sure wasn't the steering wheel, and my whole ribcage slammed into something, too. The glass shattered and the cold rushed in, and even though I couldn't really feel it, I knew that there was glass in my arms, legs, and possibly my head. Blood dripped down past my eyes and I heard a scream that didn't come from me.I hoped the people in the other car were alright.

The last thing I saw was a sandy-colored shape blurring on the edge of the woods, and the last thing I thought about was how it reminded me of Seth.

* * *

**(A/N: Aren't you happy I didn't end it there? Because I almost did. I seriously considered it.)**

The first thing I felt when I woke up was pain. I also heard the kind of beeping that is accompanied with hospital machines, which is why the pain didn't really make sense to me. Didn't hospitals give you morphine? And I should know. I've been in hospitals a lot in my life. Broken bones are a usual occurrence for me.

I also heard loud sobbing and someone making comforting noises. I heard other people talking in low voices, and it felt like someone was holding my hand.

The pain was burning me, but it was a kind of dull burning that I could put into the back of my head.

I strained to hear the voices, but I couldn't comprehend what they were saying. I could hear them, they just didn't make any sense. My brain couldn't process anything other than the fact that I was in pain, and that I couldn't feel anything other than that, and possibly my hand.

* * *

Gradually, I began to feel more. My legs weren't numb anymore, although they were now in just as much pain as the rest of me. Somehow I found that more comforting.

It became evident that someone was indeed holding my hand, and that someone was very warm. I knew that meant something important, but I couldn't remember what.

Then again, I was just thankful that I could remember my own name. Hayley.

Of course, I was having issues with the last name, but I wasn't very concerned about that.

The sobbing had stopped long ago, but I still heard the occasional sniffle. There was still talking every once in awhile, very near to me. I think the person holding my hand was in these conversations. I still couldn't understand much, but I was proud that I caught a word or phrase every now and then. Things like "imprint" and "you'll be fine." But I knew this person wasn't talking about me, so why were they saying someone _else_ would be fine? Were the other people in the accident here?

Except that wouldn't make sense, because if they were, they would probably be in a completely different room.

Why was this all so confusing?

* * *

I slipped in and out of consciousness for I don't know how long, but I was finally able to fully understand everything that was being said. I could feel my whole body, which I think was better than being numb, even though I could now feel pain everywhere. But I kept the pain in the back of my head, and it didn't bother me too much.

Even though I could understand what was being said, I had no idea who was saying any of it. I couldn't distinguish one voice from another, and that bothered me.

It also bothered me that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move any part of my body.

But what bothered me the most was that I knew whoever was holding my hand was important, but I didn't know who or why.

"You heard them. There's no brain activity, no chance at all." I could tell that this voice was anguished, and that it came from the warm person who had a tight grip on my hand.

No brain activity? I could understand what they were saying. I could hear them. I could feel that I was laying on a bed, could feel pain, could feel a person. I'm pretty sure that's brain activity!

Someone blew out a breath and said in a shaky voice, "She'll...She'll wake up. She always does. She has to."

I knew that voice. Well, I was pretty sure I knew all of them, but I remembered that one from my childhood. It brought back memories from a tree house we went to when it rained...

Embry. My cousin. The one I was living with while I was staying here, in La Push.

But for some reason, although I was happy that I could remember this, it felt like Embry wasn't the person that I needed to remember right now.

The same anguished voice from before spoke again. "_Carlisle_ told us that she's not going to wake up. And he's been around how long? Three hundred years? He's the best doctor you're ever going to find. And he's telling us that she's never going to open her eyes again."

"You don't know Hayley." Embry snapped. "She always beats the odds. She's the most unpredictable person you'll ever meet. She's going to wake up."

I knew that I should remember the person that had spoken about someone named Carlisle. I had to remember. I racked my brain, thinking as hard as possible.

Unfortunately, that left the pain open free. It coursed through my body, and I felt as if I was just realizing it for the first time. Another voice spoke, but I couldn't concentrate.

Without even thinking about it, a moan slipped out from my lips. The voice froze mid-sentence.

"Hayley?" Someone whispered, sounding hopeful yet cautious.

"No shit, Sherlock." I managed to rasp out. "Sorry to disappoint."

I heard a room full of people laugh with what seemed like relief as my eyes fluttered open to meet some very warm light brown ones.

In that instant, I knew.

Seth.

He was the one I was supposed to remember.

And remember him I did.

His creepy staring and stalkerish/mysterious ways. How he always had a fever. How he was a flake, and how I called them all 'the pack.'

And how he had helped me in the woods that one night at the bonfire. How he seemed so caring, no matter what Embry said.

But why was he the one I was supposed to remember?

**I don't even know where that whole crash scene came from. It just kind of popped into my head. So...Like it? Hate it? Want to throw some green sea monkeys at it? Tell me. By pressing that blue button that was way cooler when it was green.**

**And please vote in my poll!  
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	8. Faster You Run, Faster they Chase

**A/N: I'm so sorry! But at least it hasn't been a month! But I had to retype this a few times because my laptop is retarded, and I had to retype the chapter of my Harry Potter story, and I completely lost them both _again, _and now...ugh. I know that this chapter is horrible. But I got tired of typing the same plot line over and over again...Again, I'm sorry. But there's not much I can do about it.**

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize does not belong to me. (I would say it belongs to Stephanie Meyer, but she stole half the stuff in her books. Want to yell at me about that? Fine. But I can prove it.) The only thing I own are my OC's, specifically Hayley, and her insane thoughts. (Which are generally my thoughts, too...Hmm. I think I need to be carted off to the funny farm, too.)  
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**Songs:**

**It's For You- The Fray**

**Fences- Paramore**

**The Truth- Kris Allen  
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**Hayley POV**

I needed to get out of this hospital. Now.

I mean, I know that practically everyone hates hospitals, but I think that I have some pathological fear of them or something. They make me all nervous and itchy, and I start to get paranoid too.

Especially when some creepy doctor comes into the room with some freaky smile and then proceeds to tell me that I got 'lucky.' (Way to sound perverted when I've just been in an accident, mister doctor-man.)

I had four broken ribs, a severe concussion, my left wrist was broken, and I probably wouldn't be able to walk for a few weeks, because of the huge gash on my leg. I had some minor cuts and scrapes everywhere that didn't bother me, but bruises covered almost every inch of my body.

True, much worse could have happened, but I kind of wished that the doctor hadn't pointed it all out. "You're quite lucky, Hayley. You could have had severe head trauma, something could have impaled you, your leg could have been cut off..."

From the looks of Seth's face, it looked like he'd wished that the doctor hadn't said anything, too.

"But with that concussion that you had, you couldn't have remembered everything right away. So tell me, how long was it before you could recognixe every single person in this room?"

I think I might have possibly blushed. I avoided looking at anyone in the room, but I saw Paul's face. He was smirking, as if he knew that at first, Seth had been the only person that I could remember.

I finally mumbled a short, "About ten minutes," Still not looking at anyone.

I was telling the truth, it had taken about ten minutes for me to remember everyone. After Seth, I could remember Embry, and after a few minutes of thinking so hard that it gave me a terrible headache, (True, that might have been from the concussion, but I still blame it on the thinking.) I could remember Paul. I had been starting to get frustrated when I couldn't remember everyone else. And then, suddenly, in a rush that made me almost want to scream, it all swarmed into my head. I still couldn't remember what had happened right before the accident, but I knew that that was normal.

"So, what exactly did you remember first?"

This time I _know_ that I blushed. "How exactly is that relevant to anything?" I asked angrily.

Paul was smirking again (which obviously made me angrier) and the doctor said, "I need to know if you remembered someone from your childhood first, or someone that you've recently met. It will help me determine which part of your brain was affected the most, so that we can monitor that part for the time being."

It still didn't really make sense to me, but then again, I don't speak doctor. I speak Hayley. And most people don't understand my language. (Actually, they understand, they just run from it. Probably all my talk about blue unicorns and such...)

Geez, what the hell did they give me? 'Cos this sure ain't how I usually react to morphine.

I finally came back to reality when I felt Seth, who was sitting in a chair right next to me, squeezed my hand. I looked down, not really wanting to answer, so I just mumbled, "It wasn't someone from my childhood."

Really, that only ruled out Embry. (Who happened to be looking a little disappointed at that last comment I made.) "So, who was it?"

I snapped my eyes up to the doctor, and my voice came out sharper than I'd originally intended. (Not that I cared all that much.) "Okay, I _know_ that that doesn't have anything to do with this. You know which part of my brain to monitor, so why do you need to know who it was?"

The doctor rolled his eyes at me, making me feel like a child again. "Because we need to know what kinds of things trigger your memory."

"Why? I remember everything now. There are no gaps in my brain."

"Yes, but we can't be sure about that." The doctor said, his voice sounding impatient and like he was talking to a child. "Just because it doesn't seem like there are gaps, doesn't mean that they're not there."

I sat up a little bit (OW!) and crossed my arms. The cast made it a little difficult, but I managed. "Fine then. Go ahead. Test me. Ask me every question that you can think of, and then have them ask me questions too." I said, gesturing around the room to the pack.

The doctor looked like he was about to protest, but from the back of the room I heard Paul say, "Just do it. She'll never give up. She'll just drive you insane until you give in. It's the way she is."

I allowed myself a brief smile before the doctor started...interrogating me. Seriously, I think that's what he was doing. I rattled off the answers easily, especially the ones about why I'd been in hospitals when I was younger. (That was easy, fell out of a tree when I was seven, fell down the stairs when I was eight, Embry kicked me in the face when I was nine, swallowed something I shouldn't have when I was ten, and so on.)

And then he got the guys to start asking me questions, which were even easier than the doctor's questions. Paul asked me to relay the conversation we'd had about unicorns, Quil asked me a few questions about that night at the club, (Can you say awkward?) and Emily asked me about the first time I'd met her. (Muffin fight...Mmm, that was a good day.)

And then Seth just had to go and ask me what I'd thought of him the first time I'd met him.

I didn't want to tell him what I'd really thought. That he looked sweet and happy, and like he was suddenly seeing the world for the first time.

So instead I said, "Well, I thought you might be kinda stupid, 'cos I think the first words I heard you say were something like, 'dude, there's a girl in your bed,' and then I thought you were kind of a creepy stalker, and then...Well...I guess now I don't know." I could tell that he was a little hurt, but he laughed with the rest of the room all the same.

Well...I did kinda think he was a creepy stalker at some point. I mean, I stopped, but no one needs to know that.

* * *

After forty-five minutes, I finally convinced everyone to leave. Embry had been the hardest, but he knew that I was stubborn, so he eventually left, vowing to come back in the morning.

Seth was the only one left, because he had refused point-blank to leave. I'd argued a little, but not much. Because, truthfully? I think I wanted him to stay.

He was still sitting in the same chair, holding my hand, while we both watched some hilariously stupid movie on the TV.

And then I finally blurted out what I'd wanted to ask since the moment I woke up. "Seth...Who found me? After the accident, who...Who got me here?"

I'd figured that it wasn't some random stranger who just found me, because I think Sam would have told me if that was the truth. But when I asked this question, Seth shifted uncomfortably. "Well...Hayley..."

"Can you, for once in your life, tell me the truth?" I felt pathetic. I was pleading with him, practically begging, and I didn't even know I needed this information so desperately.

"It was...It was me. I found you. I was just in the woods, and then I heard this screeching and..." He choked off, and I gripped his hand tighter. After taking a few breaths, he continued. "And then I smelled the blood, and...When I got there, I didn't know whether to get you out or call 911 first, but then I saw that you were still bleeding and that your leg was stuck and..."

I squeezed his hand again, silently telling him that he didn't have to continue. "Wait...You...smelled the blood? How is that possible?"

Seth's body stiffened. "I meant to say saw. How in the world could I have smelled anything?" He laughed nervously.

He was right. How in the world could he have smelled the blood?

Well...I knew one way.

That night so many years ago, the Children of the Moon attacked me. They were exactly what I would consider werewolves, but the vampires that had saved me had said that I should call them Children of the Moon.

All I knew about those vampires were that the male's name was Eleazar, and that he had two females with him. I could almost always recognize vampires now, but you never saw too many. Especially the ones with gold eyes, like Eleazar and his friends.

That night...I still don't really know what happened. I couldn't sleep, so I'd started to walk around in the woods around our cabin. The moon was shining brightly, and at first I'd thought that it was very pretty and peaceful.

But then I'd started to hear the noises.

At first it was just a few barks, which turned into howling, which turned into growling. I had absolutely no idea where I was, in my frenzied mind, I just needed to get away from these things.

But the faster you run, the faster they chase.

The growling quickly escalated, until I knew instinctively that I was surrounded. And then these...things...came into view. They literally looked like they'd come straight from a bad horror movie. As they advanced, I almost went numb, and for some reason I felt like I knew exactly what they were. Although there eyes were full of malicious hunger, I could tell that they were somewhat human. And then...Then two of them had attacked. And when they'd sufficiently cut part of my abdomen open, two more advanced. This cycle would have continued, had not the three supernaturally beautiful people rushed in, violently pushing the creatures off of me. They were so fast that I could barely track their movements, and laying in the grass, bleeding, I hardly had any energy to do so. I could hear snarls and growls, shouting, screeching, but none of it registered.

And then...Silence.

The male leaned sat down on his knees, staring at my abdomen. His gaze was hungry, too, and my first thought was, _Oh, joy, I avoid getting eaten by werewolves just to end up getting eaten by an actual person._

But I knew that he and his friends were not normal people, they were much too fast for that. I noticed that they all had golden eyes, though at the time I didn't think much of it.

My body had finally stopped being numb, and I moaned from the pain. The man tore his gaze away from all the blood and started murmuring in my ear as he picked me up bridal style and started walking, his friends keeping a distance behind us. He was still murmuring to me, explaining about the Children of the Moon, and about how they thirsted more for the kill and suffering than the blood. And when I finally got the sense to ask what he was, he uttered one word: Vampire.

And, of course, being the ever rational person that I am, (Umm...Yeah. Sure.) I didn't want to believe him. But I'd seen those things, and even I knew that they'd been somewhat human. (Not very nice humans, but...still.)

And then he'd told me that his name was Eleazar, that he and his friends didn't drink human blood, but that it was still very tempting, which was why the other two were staying far behind. He started to tell me about how the vampire royalty had thought that the Children of the Moon were all hunted into extinction, but by then I suspected that he was just talking to keep me awake.

But he had made sure to tell me to stay away from anyone with red eyes. I supposedly had very intriguing blood to anyone, especially now that I'd been attacked.

And then we'd broke through the trees, he'd dropped me into the Emergency Room, and I'd never seen him again, nor had I seen any more golden-eyed vampires.

But Eleazar had explained a few things about vampires and werewolves, and I knew they had an acute sense of smell. So was it possible that Seth was...was he like the ones that had attacked me? I mean, I'd been here for a full moon, but I'd stayed in the house with Embry, so it's not like I would know what Seth was doing.

I knew that he could feel me trembling, but I ignored him as I tried to sort out my thoughts.

But there was no way that Seth could be one of those...things. I knew that whatever secret he had, it was Embry's secret too. And Paul's. And Quil's. And all of the boys who I considered to be part of the 'pack.' And I'd seen Embry and Paul during the full moon, and they weren't trying to rip open my stomach. So there was no way Seth could be one of them. Besides, no matter what I had originally thought, I knew that Seth was genuinely worried about me. And from what Eleazar had told me, Children of the Moon could barely feel anything. Especially not something like concern.

But, like I said before, hospitals make me paranoid. And, as is obvious, I'm not the most rational person in the world.

So, being the idiot that I am, I asked a question that literally probably changed my future.

"Seth...Are you a werewolf?"

**I know. I'm mean. But you finally get to know what happened to Hayley. So tell me...Did you like the way I explained it? Or did I do a crap job? I must know. That is what the review button is for. Press it! You know you want to! And if you do, you get a werepenguin. And werepenguins are pretty cool.**


	9. Not All Secrets

**A/N: I want to go to sleep. But it's only eight-thirty at night, which makes me feel really weird, but I had to get up really early today...Eh. Never mind. No one cares about Author's notes anyways. Especially not mine. I ramble too much. And NOW I'm done.**

**Warning: This is rated T. As in teen. As in, these are crazy angst-ridden teenagers. They swear, and they will most likely swear in almost every chapter, mmkay? So no complaining about it.**

**Other warning: If Hayley ever says anything offensive, I most likely don't mean it, it just fits with the moment. And if I do mean it, then I'm sorry. So no complaining about that either!  
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**Songs:**

**Secrets- OneRepublic**

**Everything I Asked For- The Maine**

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**Seth POV**

Never in my life have I been that afraid. Not even when I heard the car halt and smash into that tree, not even when I smelled the blood and knew that it was Hayley. At least then, I was kind of numb. My mind shut down, realizing that freaking out would not help my imprint, and focused and getting her out of the car. Of course, once she was actually _in_ the hospital, it was a different story, but...

I'd just gotten her back. And if I answered her question, there was no telling what would happen.

But then I realized that I hadn't even been giving away any hints at being a werewolf, that there was no way she could have seen anything. Embry had told me that Hayley was intuitive and suspicious, so she had to have noticed a few strange things, but there's absolutely no way she could have just randomly come up with werewolves. Sorry, but we're not that common. Vampires, on the other hand, are a totally different story.

"Why in the world would you ask me that?" I asked her incredulously.

She sighed, and I couldn't help but notice that even covered in bruises and cuts that made me cringe, she was still beautiful. Small and strong, her green eyes looking a little sad but hiding a spark of amusement and annoyance in them, her red hair laying across her shoulders.

"Can you just...not lie? For once, can you tell me the truth about you and your friends? Because I know you're not normal, Seth, and neither are Paul and Embry and all of your friends..."

Well, of course we're not normal. We morph into giant balls of fur at will. And then we go and kick some vampire butt.

But it's not like I could tell her that.

I gave a little nervous laugh and said, "Hayley, no one's _normal_. But that doesn't make us mythical creatures." I hated having to lie to her, it was almost impossible and my voice choked at the end, but I don't think she noticed.

"They're not mythical," I heard her mutter.

I knew that I shouldn't have heard it, which also means I shouldn't have responded, but I did anyways. "And what makes you think that?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Because I've seen it, okay?" She leaned forward so that her face was only inches away from mine, and I struggled not to flick my eyes to her lips. "I want you to answer me, Seth. Just...please." She pleaded. "Are you a werewolf?"

I shouldn't have answered. But the imprint part of me forced my lips to utter that one simple word: "Yes."

She flinched back, as far away from me as she could get on the hospital bed, and brought her legs up so that she could wrap her arms around them. I reached towards her, but she flinched back again, and my arm dropped lifelessly back to my lap. "Hayley, it's not what you think, we-"

"NO!" She screamed. Her eyes were closed, and she was shaking. I needed to comfort her, but as much as the imprinted part of me told my head that I should reach for her and pull her to me, I knew that that would just make it worse.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER, CLEARWATER?"

I shut my eyes briefly, sighing. I should have known that Embry would choose this convenient time to come back.

Embry started walking over to the bed, all his anger dissipating as he stared at the girl that he considered to be his sister. "Hayley-" He reached for her, too, but she flinched back again, shuddering. It was then that I remembered that Hayley had just found out that he was also a werewolf.

He turned to me, all that fury and hatred back in his eyes faster than I would have thought possible. "Out." He said quietly. I started shaking my head, but he walked over to me, yanked me up by the arm, (Ow, by the way) and practically threw me out of the room.

No matter how worried I was, no matter how much I didn't want to leave, I knew that Embry wouldn't let me back in. And I also knew that no matter how angry he got, Hayley was the one person he would never hurt, even accidentally.

So I left. I went back to my house, completely ignoring Mom and Leah, and trudged up the stairs to my room.

I knew I was being like a sulky kid, but I couldn't bring myself to care too much. Hayley had almost died just four days ago. I'd dragged her out of the wreckage and held her while she bled, waiting for an ambulance. I hadn't left her at all when she was in the hospital, (Except to go to the bathroom, but I don't really think that counts.) and now I knew that she was going to be okay. And I'd finally gotten a chance to tell her everything, but she'd cowered in fear and screamed at me. Granted, she'd screamed at Embry too, but that didn't make me feel any better. My own imprint couldn't even handle what I was, and that tore me up inside. Because of what I was, I might never get the chance to love Hayley the way I'm supposed to. The way she deserves.

And now I'm starting to sound like a whiny lovestruck teenage fangirl.

Oh, shit.

* * *

**Hayley POV**

After Seth left, for some reason I didn't feel any better. I actually felt worse. I knew that I'd hurt him, and somewhere deep down I also knew that he didn't deserve that. But the memories kept flooding in front of my eyes, making it damn near impossible to think of anything else.

Embry walked over to my bed after he shut the door, making me shake even more. I knew that it wasn't a full moon or anything like that, but from what Eleazar had told me, it didn't matter when it was, werewolves generally liked the kill. It was just easier and less conspicuous when they were actually wolves.

Embry sighed and sat down in the chair that Seth had just vacated. He didn't move to comfort me, although I knew that he wanted to.

I'd never really even considered the fact that they could all be werewolves. I mean, I'd realized pretty quickly that they weren't normal, (Well, maybe normal isn't the right term. Like Seth said, none of us are actually _normal_. Least of all, me. Blue unicorns and psychotic koalas...Yeah. Not normal.) But I'd known Embry since I was four years old, and I'd never thought that he could be that malicious. He's the only one that knows what happened to me, and he'd always helped me through it. Every time I had a breakdown, a setback, anything, he was always there. He'd calm me down, and although it would generally take him awhile, he'd always eventually do it.

And Seth...I don't know when I stopped thinking of him as a creepy stalker, but I did. He was sweet and innocent, always worrying about other people. I noticed that he had this habit of looking to the left when he was embarrassed or had been caught staring, and that he was a horrible liar. His disgust of lying was very obvious, and I wondered if he knew that. His brown eyes were almost always sparkling and warm, and I don't know how he could be something that's so...evil. Seth is just...not evil.

But the thing about Seth was that he could calm me down much faster than Embry. Seth didn't even know what had happened, but he'd helped me through it, just by being there.

I was grateful when Embry started talking. All this serious thinking was making my brain hurt.

And besides. It's not like he was going to try to kill me when we were in a hospital full of people.

"Look, Hayley, you need to listen to me. I know exactly what you're thinking. No, we're not those kind of werewolves." I snorted, but he ignored me and continued. "Those...things that attacked you..." I could hear the disgust in his voice, but he still continued, acting as if he hadn't said anything about it. "They're the real Children of the Moon. We're more...shapeshifters. We don't change at the full moon, and you should know that, because the first weekend you were here was a full moon and I was with you practically the whole time.

"We don't kill anyone, except vampires," Seeing the shocked look on my voice, he hastily added, "Only the ones who are killing others in our area. We call ourselves protectors, and if they come onto our land, that's when we kill them. We work as a pack, yes, and Sam is the Alpha, and yeah, we have to obey him. And the Alpha is determined by bloodline, which is another difference between us and the real thing. The Alpha for the real werewolves is determined by who kills the most and who defeats the old Alpha...We try not to fight between our pack."

Holy shit. Pack. That's what I'd already been calling them, before I'd even been considering the whole werewolf idea...

Too much creepiness. It's going to give me agoraphobia or something.

"I don't think I really need to tell you who's in the pack, I'm sure you've already figured that out. But like I said, we shapeshift at will. We can control it. Maybe not at first, because we can shift if we get angry enough, but there haven't been any new wolves lately, so everyone in the pack right now is perfectly adequate at controlling themselves." He finally took a deep breath, and when I looked up to meet his eyes, I saw that he was looking extremely nervous, as if I was about to attack him.

Hey. It's been known to happen. And just because I know he has all that supernatural strength now, doesn't mean I'm going to stop attacking him. Where would the fun be in that?

And of course, instead of processing what he just said, I think about eating a bagel. A blueberry bagel with cream cheese, not butter, because butter on a bagel is just...not right.

And of course, instead of asking him something about why he didn't tell me earlier, I ask, "Can you go find me a bagel?"

After a few seconds of shocked laughter, Embry burst out laughing. I giggled a little with him, knowing how ridiculous it was, but still having a craving. He looked up at me and smiled, relieved that I had forgiven him.

Afterward, he started explaining how the pack and shapeshifting worked, about how the first time you 'phase' is the scariest because you have no idea when it's going to happen. We talked all night, (even though it was technically morning, but it was still dark out, so that counts as night.) and by the time the sun actually came up and Paul, Jared, and Kim came to visit, I was pretty sure I understood everything.

And I was pretty sure I was done freaking out.

Although I wasn't sure. Freak outs tend to be unexpected.

* * *

After another four days, I was finally allowed to go home. I think when the doctor told me that, I'd literally started bouncing up and down on the bed, clapping my hands, and shouting, "YES! FREEEEDOMMM!"

But then I stopped. Because I was kinda bouncing on some painful bruises.

I could walk fine, limping just a little, and I was lucky that it was my left hand that was broken. Because when I was twelve and broke my right arm, I think I almost died. I couldn't do _anything_. I could barely eat with my left hand, let alone open a door. A lefty, I am not.

Embry had to do a lot of patrols, something about punishment from Sam, although he wouldn't tell me what it was for. I was fine being left at home, because I could do almost everything perfectly, but there were times when I felt just horrible. I had this aching loneliness in me that didn't go away when Embry, or even Paul stopped by.

And then I finally realized what it was. So I called Kim and told her that if she didn't get her ass over here and drive me where I needed to go, I'd tell the whole pack that she was considering going lesbian because of Paul. I mean, sure, it's not like they would believe it, but Paul would never hear the end of it. Which meant, in turn, that Kim would never hear the end of it either.

When we pulled up to the Clearwater house, Kim stopped the engine and twisted around to look at me. "Hayley, just know that...He hasn't been doing so well lately. He feels horrible about what happened, about scaring you, and he's refusing to talk to any of us, so he doesn't really know that you're okay with it all. He's afraid that you hate him, and he won't come out of his room. He hasn't been on any patrols since before the accident, and Sam doesn't really want to force him..."

I smiled softly, feeling incredibly guilty. If I'd let him explain, if I'd listened to him, then maybe he wouldn't be so upset right now. I undid the seatbelt and started to get out of the car when Kim said, "I would wait here for you, but I have a feeling this might take a while. And I'm sure Seth would take you home when you're done."

I smiled at her and muttered a quick "thank you" and started walking up to the door.

The Clearwater house wasn't huge, I noticed as I waited for someone to answer the door, but it was two stories and looked quite cozy. It was definitely something I could see Seth living in.

A beautiful but tired looking woman answered the door, and I immediately knew that she was Seth's mother. She looked confused for a second before her eyes widened and her face brightened. "Oh! You must be Hayley. I'm glad you're here." In a completely unexpected move, she leaned down and hugged me, muttering in my ear, "I think you're the only one that can help Seth." She pulled back and said, "His room is the last door upstairs." And with that, she walked back into what I assumed was the kitchen.

After a few seconds, I broke out of my daze and started walking up the stairs. I stopped at the last door of the small hallway, knocking quietly. When I got no answer, I tried the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn. Sighing, I did what would have been my first option. "Seth, open this fucking door before I break it. This cast is pretty hard, and it's not like I would feel anything..."

Like I said. That would have been my first option, but people don't generally take too kindly to you threatening to break down your door when it's not needed...

I didn't hear anything at all, and the door suddenly opened to reveal Seth.

He looked horrible. His hair was sticking up in every direction, he had horrible circles under his eyes, and he was paler than I'd ever seen a Quileute. He looked as tired as a cancer patient, and his eyes were dull and lifeless.

Although he wasn't wearing a shirt, and his abs looked better than ever...

But that is SO not the point.

I sighed again as I brought my eyes up to meet his. I raised an eyebrow and said, "You gonna step back and let me into the room? Or are you just gonna stand there like an invalid?"

I think he almost smiled as he soundlessly stepped out of the way, closing the door as I walked past him. I went straight to his bed and sat down on it, crossing my legs pretzel-style while he went and sat at the chair by his desk.

The walls of Seth's room were kind of distracting, they were a bright green (Hehe! My favorite color) but they had other colors splattered all over them.

Hey, if he splatter painted, how come I wasn't invited?

The room was fairly small, but had enough room to walk in with a simple bed, a dresser with a few pictures on top of it, and a desk that was entirely covered in papers. The bed was in the corner of the room, and right next to the window, so I stared out it into the forest for a few moments before turning back to Seth and raising an eyebrow. I wasn't going to talk first, and he knew it.

After a short stare-off, which I won (obviously), he looked down at his feet and said, "I was going to ask why you're here, but I guess I don't really have to."

"No, you don't. Look, I'm sorry for the freak-out at the hospital, but Embry explained everything, and I'm okay. It's just...when you said werewolf, I wasn't exactly thinking of giant furballs."

He snorted and shook his head, still looking at his feet. "Yeah. Except, you know, we call them _wolves_. We're not even remotely associated with cats." I laughed, and he finally looked at me, his eyes seeming a little less dull. "You don't have to be sorry. I'm the one that just threw it at you. While you were in the _hospital_, no less."

His eyes were looking sad again, so I smiled softly. "Yes, but I asked. And I tried using mind control to get you to answer." I joked. "I think it worked."

He rolled his eyes at me, the asked, "So...Are you sure Embry told you everything?"

What else is there to know? They're fast, they all have high temperatures, they can read each others minds when they phase, they heal fast, and you know...They turn into _wolves._ "Uh...I think so. Why?" I asked curiously.

"Did he...tell you about what happened to Sam, Emily, and Leah?"

"Just that Sam used to date Leah, but then when Emily came it was practically love at first sight for him. I can't say that that's an okay thing to do, but Sam and Emily seem really happy together..."

It sounded like Seth said something like, "Damn you, Embry," under his breath, but I wasn't really sure. He brought his eyes up to meet mine, and I knew that he was about to tell me something really important.

Well...Lots of things are important. Like the fact that if you're not careful, those scary blue unicorns will unite with the green sea monkeys to come and get you...or me...yeah. Most likely me.

I know. My brain is messed up. But everyone's entitled to something, right? I guess mine is my insanity.

FOCUS time.

"Well, see, there's this thing called imprinting. It happens to us wolves, and it's like...Gravity shifts. You look into her eyes and you can't look away. You'll do anything for her, be anything, and without her, you wouldn't be able to survive. She's basically your main reason for living. I mean, it's not like you forget about everyone else, but she's your number one priority. When she's not there, you feel like you're missing a part of you." Whoa. Sounded pretty intense. He continued wryly, "Kinda like...a shortcut. This way you don't have to date half the state."

The ends of my mouth quirked up and I asked, "So who's imprinted?" And then it dawned on me. I knew Sam wasn't a bad person, he would never intentionally do something like that to Leah. "Sam and Emily, right?" He smiled and nodded. "Kim and Jared?" He nodded again, and I shook my head a little, not knowing who else in the pack had imprinted.

He smiled a little adorable smile. And the fact that I found it adorable made me want to throw myself out the window. "Well, Brady imprinted on this one girl named Katherine. They've got a few issues, mainly because her parents, like, want her to be a nun or something and think that she can't date. They've already got some guy lined up to marry her...God, that kills Brady. And then Jake imprinted on someone...Not even going to explain that. And then Collin just imprinted a few weeks ago on Emily's niece, Carla. Absolutely no drama there, 'cause Carla lives in Forks, and she's the exact same age, so it works."

After a few moments of silence, I realized that he was done speaking. "So...Is that all? You haven't imprinted?"

He hesitated for a moment before murmuring a very quiet "No."

Is it bad that I was kinda relieved that he hadn't imprinted on someone?

Then he stood up, walked over to me, leaned down, and put his arms around me.

And I...hugged him back. He was incredibly warm, and putting my arms around him felt right.

"Thank you." He whispered into my hair, making me shiver a little.

Oh yeah. This is REALLY bad.

**See? Long chapter. And it was a quick update, too! But it's 4th of July, so I didn't have to babysit at all. YAY! **

**Review, please. And I try to respond to them all, but my laptop is messed up and sometimes it refuses to let me, doing that stupid 'error' thing. But...Just review, please! In case you hadn't noticed, they make me update faster.**

**Oh, and by the way, if you're Team Jacob, don't go see Eclipse. There are way too many Bella/Edward lovey-dovey moments, and they make it seem like Jacob has absolutely no chance! So...Yeah.**

**REVIEW.  
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	10. Hole

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! (Even though there weren't that many last chapter...At least, I don't think there was. I can't really remember.) If I didn't respond**, **I'm sorry, but I tried. My laptop sent like, half of them, and then it crashed, and every time I try to respond to the other ones it gives me some weird error message. But they mean a lot to me! Even though I didn't get as many as usual, I decided to update again. And besides, I didn't have much else to do, and...movies are inspiring me to write.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own. (And I was so sad, because Seth only had, like, two lines in Eclipse. He was practically the whole reason I went to go see it!)**

**Songs:**

**Fences- Paramore**

**Conspiracy- Paramore**

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**Hayley POV**

I have no idea when I fell asleep, but I woke up when it was dark, laying on Seth's bed. He wasn't in the room, but I could hear the TV downstairs, so after a few minutes of trying and failing to go back to sleep, I got up and went down the stairs.

He was sitting on the couch with Paul, and they were watching something that I wasn't even going to pretend to understand. They both turned around when I entered the room, Paul smirking and Seth beaming.

God damn it, Seth! I really wish you would stop doing that. Keep it up, and I'm going to actually think you're a normal person. Other than the whole giant furball thing.

"Hayley, are you, like, nocturnal or something?" Paul asked, still smirking as he glanced between Seth and I.

My brow furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

They both laughed a little and Seth said, "You fell asleep at about two in the afternoon, and it is now eleven thirty."

My eyes widened. "Fuck. Embry's going to kill me."

They both laughed again. "Don't worry, little one," Paul said, smirking as I galred at him about the 'little one' comment. "We called Embry earlier and told him you were totally out. He told us it would be a very bad idea to disturb you."

I smiled a little at that, I've been known to get very cranky and violent whenever someone wakes me up if I still want to sleep. Embry had seen that first-hand too many times to count, but it had made him very wary of me whenever I was asleep, especially considering I'm such a light sleeper.

I'm still not entirely sure how I felt about the whole shapeshifter thing. Okay, so they weren't werewolves, they didn't want to eat me, they didn't want to kill me, and they only existed to protect the town from vampires. They could heal fast, run fast, hear extremely well, (Which reminded me that I would have to stop saying things out loud if I don't want anyone to hear them.) and they were made to fight vampires.

Even if Seth was still the same Seth, (And I still wasn't really sure who that was. Stalker? Nice guy? Creeper?) and if Paul was still the same asshole that we call Paul, and Embry was still the Embry that I'd known since I was little, them being shapeshifters made everything different. Instead of thinking they were all at the beach or something, now I knew that they were on patrol. Instead of wondering if they were all tense because Paul said something stupid, I now knew that it was because they'd found a new vampire or something like that. it had been bad enough before, when I'd worried what Embry did in his free-time, (I was still kinda convinced that Sam ran a gay prostitution ring or something, except for the fact that he was engaged to Emily.) but now I had to worry about all of them getting eaten and sucked dry.

I was worried about them all, but for some reason I was most worried about Seth. I'm not sure why that was, because he wasn't the youngest, I knew that Collin and Brady were younger than him. And after I'd apologized to Seth this afternoon, he'd told me all about the battle with the newborns and how he'd even fought one of them, so I knew that he would be able to take care of himself. But that didn't stop me from worrying about him. Some part of me knew that if he was hurt, I would be, too.

Which was completely ridiculous, considering I'd only been here for about a month and barely knew him, and when I'd first met him I'd thought that he was a creepy staring stalker guy.

I was also worried about Paul. He was strong and smart, I knew that, but he was also impulsive and easily angered. His temper could get him into trouble in a fight, and he could lose his concentration. If someone he loved was threatened, I knew that he would do anything to stop it. And even if that could be a good thing, it could also be a deadly thing.

But why was I even worried about this? There were no vampires around at the moment, except for the Cullens, who I'd heard didn't drink human blood. It's not like there was going to an imminent war soon or anything!

...Except...I couldn't shake that feeling that there _was _going to be a war soon.

* * *

When I finally went home, Embry was waiting, sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, staring out the window. He laughed when he saw the look on my face. "I'm not going to tie a bomb to you, Hayley."

I looked away. "Yeah, but you might find something in the woods and make it bite me." I looked over at him. "Sorry, but you guys are the wild animals. I'd appreciate not getting rabies today."

He rolled his eyes. "Does that mean I can give it to you tomorrow?" I laughed and sat down in one of the other chairs, Echo jumping up onto my lap. "Because seriously, psycho Hayley isn't enough, I need a rabid Hayley, too."

I laughed, petting Echo as she began to purr. "You _do_ need a rabid Hayley. She'd destroy your house and eat all your food, and you'd go so insane that you'd have to leave. And then rabid Hayley would have the destroyed house all to herself. And her kitty," I added, looking down at Echo.

Embry chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I _would _have to run away from a rabid Hayley. Normal Hayley is scary enough." He sighed and his face turned serious, his eyes looking a little sad. He was staring intently at a spot on the table, as if he was willing it to do something. "Listen, Hales, I know that you forgave Seth and all, and that's good, because I couldn't really handle his moping and all, but..." He looked back up at me and continued. "Just...Don't think any different of us. Please. I know that you're scared because of what happened, but we're not like that. We-"

"Embry." I stated sternly, cutting him off. "I know, okay? I understand. You explained it, and I believe you. Besides, all the evidence shows that you're not like that. And I know that you and Seth could never be like that..." I trailed off, cursing myself for having brought Seth back into the conversation.

Embry smiled grimly, and even a little bit sadly. "He hasn't told you, has he?"

"Huh?" I asked, genuinely confused.

Embry shook his head, muttering, "If he doesn't tell you soon, I will." And then he stood up, said, "I've got patrol, and stalked out the door.

Yeah...I'm...not even gonna ask.

* * *

The next day, I finally went back to school. I wasn't limping anymore, but my leg still hurt, and I think Seth noticed. He walked me to class, glancing down at my leg every few seconds. But he didn't say anything about it, so I wasn't even annoyed.

Lunch was when the real 'fun' started.

Obviously, for the past month, (even though I hadn't been at school for the past week and a half) I'd always sat with Aidan and Lilly. Today, however, I'd decided that I wanted to sit with Seth, Collin, Brady, and their other friend, who was also a part of the pack, Jason.

And, you know, there was the little fact that I'd totally forgotten that I had a date with Aidan on the same night that I crashed my car. On my way to _Seth's_ house. Somehow, everyone seemed to know that that was where I'd been going.

And there was the little fact that I'd kind of forgotten about Aidan until I saw him glaring at me during lunch when I sat down next to Brady. Katherine, Brady's imprint, was also sitting with us.

I had to admit that Katherine was a very pretty girl, but it was obvious that she wasn't Quileute. She wasn't pale, but she wasn't tan either, and she had dark brown, wavy hair that went just to her shoulder and honey-brown eyes that reminded me of Seth's.

Brady looked overjoyed to be with her, and I remembered that Seth had told me about how her parents already had someone lined up to marry her, how they were from some high society and their family still followed old traditions. They didn't care too much about who her friends were, just as long as they weren't total troublemakers, but when it came to who she dated...Well, she just wasn't allowed to date. Seth had told me that Katherine's parents had said that if they were in New York or something like that, it would be different story, but that no one here was 'suitable' enough.

In other words, they weren't rich enough, and her parents thought that everyone here was going to end up broke and deadbeat.

But Katherine seemed perfectly fine while she was with Brady, and it seemed like they were both just trying to enjoy the time they had together, instead of being sad about the fact that they didn't have enough of it.

It was actually kinda sweet.

And the fact that I thought that made me want to gag. Just...I should not be having these thoughts. Bad, bad, Hayley. No mushy lovey-dovey things. Think about...dead horsies.

Wait...isn't that what guys think about when they're trying not to get a massive hard-on?

Just...Just...Ewwww.

Collin seemed to notice my disgusted face and laughed. "What, can't wait to get away from Seth? Already? I mean, damn, I knew he would drive you off eventually, but before we even start to eat?" He looked at Seth. "Pathetic, man, pathetic."

Seth growled while I giggled, ignoring Aidan, whose eyes were burning a hole in the back of my head. "Sorry to crush your dreams, Collin, but you're stuck with me for now. I'm maybe sorta kinda avoiding Aidan..."

Jason looked over at me and raised his eyebrows. (Ha ha! Can't raise both, can you?) "And why exactly would that be, young ginger?"

"Umm...I'm not exactly a ginger. Gingers are awesome, though."

Jason rolled his eyes. "You have red hair. That makes you a ginger."

_I _rolled _my _eyes. "No, gingers have bright red hair. I have darker red hair. I am not a ginger."

"Whatever. You never answered the question."

I smiled, knowing that I had won. I always win. But the smile quickly fell as soon as I remembered his question. "Umm...Well...I kinda might have forgotten that I had a date with him?"

Jason barked out a laugh and Brady joined him. Collin just raised an eyebrow, (Damn! You're not supposed to be able to do that, wolfy-boy.) and Katherine looked very amused. Seth had his head down, and I couldn't see his expression, but he looked like he was shaking.

"How in the hell do you forget about a date with someone?" Brady asked, still laughing.

"Well, uh...I guess I just...wasn't that excited." I hadn't realized it until now, but that really was the truth. I hadn't been very interested in the first place, but as it drew closer to the date, I really hadn't cared at all. In fact, I think I flat-out just didn't want to go.

Seth had stopped shaking now, and his eyes even looked a little hopeful.

And at first, that gave me warm, fuzzy feeling. But then I remembered about the whole imprinting thing, and how Seth was most likely going to imprint on whoever was perfect for him.

I sighed, louder than intended, and they all stared at me. Brady looked concerned, and so did Katherine, so I knew that my expression probably made me look like I was about to cry. Seth, who was sitting on my other side, grabbed the hand sitting on my lap and placed our intertwined hands onto his lap. He looked at me worriedly, which just made me feel worse. I sighed again, and looked away from him, only to see everyone else at the table quickly glance away and start a conversation amongst themselves.

"Hayley, what's wrong?" Seth's warm breath washed over my face, blowing some of my hair into my eyes. He reached up with his free hand to brush it away, his eyes looking tortured.

I sighed for the third time. I was going to say some bull about nothing being wrong, but when I looked back up into his eyes, somehow I ended up blurting out the truth. "Seth, I really wish you wouldn't act like this."

"Like what?" He asked me, obviously not understanding.

"Like...Like...The way you act!" I said, frustrated that I was unable to explain. "You need to stop making me feel like you actually care, okay? Because then I'm going to be all upset when you imprint, and...ugh!" I knew that they were all listening, even Katherine, but I couldn't bring myself to care. "Leading people on is never okay, Seth, and I know that you're just being nice and everything, but that's not what it seems like! So can't you just, I don't know, leave me alone or something?"

"Hayley-" I didn't let him respond, though; I ripped my hand from his and stood up, storming out of the cafeteria.

I went and sat down right at the edge of the woods, out of sight from anyone in the school. The ground was slightly damp, but I ignored it and leaned back against a tree, wondering why the hell I had just done that.

If I was going to be honest with myself, (And really, how more honest can one get when they talk to themselves about blue unicorns?) I didn't want Seth to leave me alone. I liked being friends with him, and I liked being around him. For some reason, he could always make me feel better without even trying. All he had to was walk into the room, and no matter what I was upset about seemed to just...go away. And I knew that he wasn't happy right now, that much was obvious when I'd glanced at his face before I walked out; But the fact that he was upset made _me_ upset. I felt like there was a burning hole in my chest, slowly getting bigger and bigger, burning brighter and brighter.

I'm not sure how long I sat there, trying not to think about Seth, but the bell eventually rang. I stood up grabbed my bag, and walked back into what most people consider their personal hell without a second thought.

Because if people think school is Hell, then I guess they're lucky they don't know about vampires and werewolves.

**Shorter than the last one, but the last chapter was unusually long. Anyways...Review! Do it. Press that weird little button that was way cooler when it was green and type in a few words. I don't care if it just says one word. Just give me a freaking review.**

**Please?**


	11. Rabbits Cause All The Trouble

**A/N: I know. I'm horrible. The only excuse I have is that I typed it twice and lost it both times. I'm starting to notice that that happens quite often, so I'm going to start saving every five minutes. I'm sorry! But it's only been a month instead of some people who don't update for a year...I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.**

**Songs:**

**Misery- Maroon 5**

**Love the Way You Lie- Eminem ft. Rihanna**

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****Seth POV**

"You have to tell her, dude. And soon."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know, Brady."

It was horrible, knowing that your own imprint won't be with you because she thinks you're going to end up with someone else. It's even worse when you know that's not possible.

I thought about going after her, but I knew she would hate that. Besides, I wasn't even sure where she was, although if I had to guess I would say that she was in the forest. It would calm her down, being in the quiet, and no matter how much I wanted to go find her I knew that it would just upset her more.

"We're having a bonfire this weekend. Take her. You can tell her there." Brady suggested, giving a half shrug.

I sighed again. "I don't see how that's going to make a difference. She gets to hear the stories, sure, but she already knows about imprinting."

Brady rolled his eyes. "Just tell her. Honestly, I don't care how you do it. Of course, knowing Hayley, she'll probably try to punch you for not telling her sooner, and then she'll freak out."

I gave him a look. "Thanks, Brady. Real helpful."

He grinned. "That's me."

I snorted and looked back down at my food, suddenly not hungry.

I didn't want to tell her. She'd freaked out enough about the fact that we were wolves, what was going to happen when she found out that I was bound to her for life? She could get rid of me if she wanted to, but that didn't mean I would stop watching over her.

And what if she _was_ okay with it? Vain as that hope was, I couldn't help that the thoughts crept into my head. If she wanted to stay with me, there could be no denying her. But did I want her to be stuck on this little reservation for her whole life?

No, I didn't. But I still had to tell her. It was her choice, not mine.

When the bell rang, I thought about going to get Hayley. But instead, I went to class, and all the classes after that, too, even though she never showed up. And when the day was finally over, I drove over to Embry's, hoping that that was where she'd gone when she left school.

But when I got there, Embry and Jared were sitting outside. The rental car that Hayley was using until her own car was fixed was nowhere in sight, and I didn't like the looks on Embry and Jared's faces.

I stepped out of my old, creaky blue car and walked up to them. "Why do you look like Emily's suddenly decided to stop cooking?"

Embry scowled at me. Okay. Note to self: Don't say anything sarcastic at the moment. "Brady told us what happened at lunch today. And Hayley's gone. She's not answering her phone for any of us."

"And it rings the usual amount before it goes to voicemail, so she's not just ignoring the call." Jared added.

Embry too a deep breath. "Seth, do you have any idea where she went after she left the cafeteria?" I could tell he was using all of his strength not to scream and attack me, his fists were clenched and his frame was shaking slightly.

"Um...She probably went to the edge of the woods behind the school."

"And you didn't go after her to make sure she was okay? The woods, Seth, the woods! Are you really that stupid?" Embry shouted. Jared put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

I hadn't thought about the things that could be in the woods. "But we haven't found any leeches around lately..."

Embry let out a noise of frustration, and Jared said quietly, "When we were patrolling with Jake and Sam today, we found something. There were two of them. We're not sure if they're gone yet."

I froze. Hayley was missing, and they'd found vampires today.

No. Hayley was okay. She had to be. I would know if she wasn't, right?

I didn't think about it much more. I sprinted towards the woods, pulling off my shirt and phasing before I got anything else off. No one else was phased at the moment, although I knew Embry and Jared would probably follow soon after me. My paws pounded on the forest floor as I headed for the school as fast as I could.

I found Hayley's scent a few hundred feet into the woods, and I knew it was recent. She'd smelled like lemons today, most likely a new shampoo, and there was a lingering scent of that right in front of me.

My nose was burning, too.

Which meant that a vampire had been here.

I hadn't noticed Jacob or Jared phase, but suddenly they were both right next to me, their thoughts grim.

_That's one of the ones we came across today. _Jake's thought was directed at me.

I felt like I was paralyzed. Hayley was gone, and that leech had taken her.

_Uh...Seth? You might wanna come over here. _

I glanced at Jared to see his standing over near a tree, staring down at something. I padded over to him and followed his gaze to see something red under a pile of pine needles.

It was Hayley's phone.

I whined at the thoughts filling my head and put my paws over my eyes so I could avoid looking at the phone.

_Seth, she might be okay. Maybe it was just one of the leeches from Alaska that the Cullens have told us about. _Jared's calm voice filled my head. _Maybe Hayley got lost._

But no, that wasn't possible. She hadn't been that far from the parking lot. And even if Hayley could get a little confused sometimes, there was no way she could get lost in the woods when she was this close to the school. Even Jared didn't believe what he was saying.

And then I heard a distinctly familiar voice saying, "Damn it, you stupid rabbit, I'm trying to _help_ you."

Hayley stumbled into view, holding a ball of tan fluff. She glanced up at us and did a double-take, her eyes going wide. "Uh...Hi?"

I didn't even think about it, I phased and rushed over to her, putting my arms around her. "Well, hi, Seth."

"We though one of the leeches took you." I breathed into her ear, hugging her tighter but avoiding squishing the squirming rabbit in her arms.

She put an arm around me and said, "Well, I haven't seen anyone, and-" She paused and I heard her heartbeat pick up a little. "Uh...Seth? You're kind of naked right now."

I pulled back quickly and smiled sheepishly while Jacob rolled his large eyes and peeled his shorts off the strap around his ankle, tossing them to me. I slipped them on while Hayley stared at the rabbit, blushing. "Okay. You can look now."

She smirked as she looked back at my face. "Who's to say that I wasn't looking before?"

I heard Jacob give something close to a snort (or whatever you can get when you're in wolf form) and sincerely hoped that this moment was never relayed to Embry.

I felt one of them nudge my back, signaling that they were leaving. I nodded without taking my eyes off Hayley, and I heard them turn around and pad away.

"I'm not so sure that Aiden would like that." I responded when I thought they were a good distance away.

Her smirk widened. "Yes, well, maybe he's just not interesting enough."

I gave her a smile. I was surprised that she was actually being like this with me after what had happened at lunch today, but I hoped that it would last. "Yeah, well you get bored pretty easily."

"I do." She allowed. "But I'm also amused very easily."

I rolled my eyes and looked down at the rabbit that she was still holding. "So where'd you find that thing?"

"That's the reason I wasn't over here." She explained, leaning down and picking up her phone. "It hopped past me and it looked injured, so I started following it." Of course she did. "Took me almost two hours before I finally got it, and it has this huge thorn in the side of its paw."

I stared at her for at least a minute and a half before I finally said, "A rabbit. You had all of us freaked out over a fucking _rabbit_." I stated it calmly, although inside I was burning with frustration and the need to laugh.

She smiled, like she knew. "Uh huh. Although I didn't think anyone was going to freak out. I assumed everyone would leave me alone after...Well, after what happened today." She wasn't looking at me, just stroking the rabbit and murmuring to it while she examined its' paw. "Ah ha!" She exclaimed, pulling out the thorn. The rabbit thrashed wildly and she gently set it down, after which the rabbit hopped away as fast as it could, seeming surprised that it couldn't feel anything in its' foot anymore.

I sighed and she looked back up at me, emerald eyes brighter than usual. "Hayley...There are...Things I need to tell you. How do you feel about meeting at the beach tomorrow around two?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Isn't tomorrow Wednesday?"

I laughed. "Yes, but we don't have school for the rest of the week. Teachers convention or something."

"Oh. Well, now I feel stupid."

"You're not stupid, Hayley. You're just easily confused."

She rolled her eyes. "In other words, stupid." I was about to argue, but she cut me off with a wave when her phone rang. "Hello?" She winced, and I could hear Embry yelling at her on the other end. She held the phone away from her ear and gave an irritated sigh.

He yelled at her for a good five minutes when she finally said, "Alright, I'll never drop my phone anywhere, okay? Geez, Embry, nothing happened. And if a vampire _had _attacked me, then what good would my phone have done?"

There was a pause. _"You're right. No more wandering into the woods for you. Especially if you're alone. In fact, you're not going _anywhere _alone anymore, got it?"_

"Embry, you can't keep me on some short little leash. You're the dog, not me."

I heard him growl in frustration while she ended the call.

"You just hung up on a very angry werewolf."

She smiled. "Exactly something I would do, isn't it?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, it is. But I'm not dealing with him when we get back to your house. Those darned injured rabbits, they cause all the trouble." I grabbed her hand and started pulling her out of the woods, walking towards her car. "Give me your keys?"

She looked up at me. "Why?" She asked, genuinely confused. "It's not like I'm drunk."

I grinned, something that I always seem to be doing in her presence.

When she's not making me want to rip my hair out, of course.

"Because. I want to drive."

She arched an eyebrow but handed over her keys wordlessly, opening the passenger door and slipping inside.

"You know, you never answered my question." I said carelessly as we drove down the road. "Are you okay with meeting me tomorrow?"

She sighed and looked out the window. "Sure, I guess so." She said quietly.

Hayley's never quiet.

"Hayley, what's wrong?' I asked, trying to keep my eyes on the road. "Do you not want to go to the beach tomorrow? Because we can stay at your house. We can even have Embry there. I just really need to tell you some things."

**Hayley POV**

I knew exactly what he was going to tell me. Probably something about my freak-out at lunch today, something about how we couldn't be friends anymore because he wouldn't want to 'lead me on.' I knew he would do it in the nicest way possible, just because he's Seth, but that didn't change the fact that no matter how much I didn't want him to, he was going to imprint on someone else some day.

Well, at least I can admit it now.

Despite all that, I still said, "No, Seth, it's fine. We'll meet at the beach."

He grinned that earth-shaking grin of his, his teeth practically glowing. I was glad that I'd been able to make him happy, but I knew that as soon as he left I'd start imagining all the horrible things he could say to me tomorrow.

He got in his own car when we got back home, promising me that he would explain everything tomorrow, and that I had better show up because he had something very important to say.

"Hayley." Embry was obviously trying to stay calm, but it wasn't working very well. He was shaking and I could hear the fury in his voice.

I sighed. "Look, Embry, I'm not going to apologize. I was just trying to help an injured rabbit that didn't want to get caught. I've never had to take my phone everywhere I went, but I will, okay? I promise."

He glared at me, but the shaking started to subside, so I guessed that he wasn't going to yell at me.

No, instead he had to hug me.

I stood there awkwardly, thinking of how different this was from hugging Seth.

"I swear, Hayley, if you ever do that again, I'll send you to some group home in New York."

"I don't doubt it." I muttered.

He pulled back and smiled at me. "Go to sleep. You look like you're about to pass out."

"Well, now that you mention it..." I hadn't really realized how tired I was until I got into the house. It hadn't been a particularly exhausting day, except for lunch, but it was nice to know that I got to sleep in for the next few days.

And it was also nice to know that Seth had a _very_ nice body... Even if I couldn't have him, I would always have that glimpse I'd accidentally gotten.

Not that I was thinking about it or anything...

Okay. So I was. But you would be, too, if you had just had a hot werewolf with no clothes standing in front of you. _Hugging_ you.

Seth was Seth. He was happy and kind and made you want to strangle him sometimes. He was almost always straight with you, and when he wasn't, he was annoyingly cryptic. He was a bad liar, but you know he means well. You never want to disappoint him. He wasn't a complex person, but all the reasons for liking him sure were.

It felt a little strange, admitting that I had feelings for him. But I did, I knew it, and I didn't think that they were going to go away any time soon.

That wasn't going to stop me from trying, though.

**I know. It's been a month and then I give you this horrible chapter. But if you review, I'll update faster. :) Even if you just tell me how crappy it is.**

**And this is kinda shameless self-promotion here, but it also helps you, so...If any of you have a twitter, you can follow me to get info on updates and spoilers. There's a link at the bottom of my profile.  
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